From Another World
by aliciathewolf45
Summary: Amy Rose had lived a pretty stressful life after her parents were killed in a car accident and didn't think she would ever have a good future if she is constantly lied to. But what happens when she receives a special necklace that transported her to another world where she must save a kingdom from an evil tyrant, along with a black knight with a troubling past. Will she survive?
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone. New story, yeah. But I've actually been wanting to redo this story since I deleted years ago. If anyone on here remembers my old stories, this was possibly one of my most popular that I have made. I deleted it cause I didn't like the way I made it. But I've been wanting to make it, and hopefully a lot better. I honestly don't remember the name of it, but I do remember a lot of what I had in the story.**

**So lemme get this out. There will be a lot of OC's. Mine included. There will be some M stuff in the later chapters and some deaths. There will be a lot of cheesy stuff, so possibly a lot of cringy stuff. This story is special cause I did like how I had imagined it, I just didn't write it well. So if it doesn't have much, I'm okay with it. But I'm hoping to at least get some people to read it on their own time. Hell, maybe even remember parts of it. Thank you. ;)**

**Chapter 1. Heartbreak and a New World**

Pink colored eyes opened, then closed a few more times to rub off any dust she had from her sleep. She slowly sat up and stretched her arms out wide letting out a loud yawn. Her quills were all over her head and in a messy way. Must've rolled around in her sleep. She carefully got out of her bed after throwing away the blanket that was on her body, then shuffled her feet across the wooden floor boards to her bathroom. She turned on the light showing her pink decorated bathroom, she moved her feet carrying her over to the mirror to see what she needed to fix. Boy...she didn't look pretty in the mirror. Her quills looked like they could be snakes like Medusa, her eyes were a little baggy, and her lips had a bit of dry drool on the side.

Not going out looking like this, and not in front of him. She quickly made herself decent by coming her quills, brushing her teeth, and lastly washing her face with warm water. After that, she looked much better to look in the mirror again. Her green eyes sparkled seeing that just a little bit of brushing, and washing, she looked better than before. The girl headed out of the bathroom and back into her bedroom to grab some clothes from her dresser. She opened each drawer to grab a black solid shirt with a pink heart printed on the chest, dark blue jeans, and some panties and socks. Then after a quick dress up, she was ready to go out. She grabbed her phone and opened it up after unplugging it to see a small message on the front that she had reminded herself of. It read, 'Adran will meet with his friend at the stairs in the back of the school after third period for a break. Don't be late, Amy Rose.' She smiled at her message and nodded. This time, she won't wait. She wanted to know what his answer will be, and hopefully will make her life happy again. If things go well, that is.

Amy Rose was a young, beautiful hedgehog girl with long pink quills cut down to her waist with emerald green eyes that shimmer when she gets a little excited over things. Today she had a special task she had set for today. Today was her birthday and she hoped that after she had gotten and answer from Adran, she'll have a boyfriend, and maybe a better future where she will stay with him so she won't be alone anymore. Amy had tragically lost her parents when she was around thirteen. Her parents were driving to pick her up from school, only to be T-boned by a drunk semi driver forcing the car to roll several times. Her father died on the way to the hospital while her mother was killed on the spot. She was in the passenger seat when the semi slammed into her door. Amy had no relatives, so she was sent to Foster Care for a while, but left when she turned eighteen so she can live on her own. Each time she had a new family, they would either make her feel welcomed, or send her back when they didn't want her at all. She had her parents money that they were saving for her college, but she wasn't able to get into their funds until she was able to get at a right age.

After she finally was granted some money from the bank, she got a small apartment and used the bit of the money to live while trying her hardest to find jobs in her city. There wasn't many out there that would take a small girl like her. But she did find some fast food places that almost made her fail her school after forcing her to stay late a couple times. She missed a lot of her work and school, but was able to make it as much as she could. That is, until she had met Adran. A red fox boy, the same age as her. They went to the same high school for a few years, but hadn't met until her teacher had assigned her as his partner. After that, she began to feel a little crush beginning to form while she stayed with him. He was kind to her, very handsome, and kind of popular. She was happy to find out that he was single and hoped that maybe when their in their senior year, she might try to tell him how much she liked him.

Her thoughts about him were all on one piece of paper she had made for at least a week, making sure that her words didn't look too cheesy and not too fake. Adran was nice to her, so maybe he might consider being her boyfriend. Only one way to find out...

When she had left her apartment, she had grabbed her blue denim jacket, backpack, keys, and the envelope that had his name written on the top of it. She did stop on the way over to the door in front of a picture frame of her family. Her parents, the only picture that she kept because it was taken just a month before they had the terrible accident. Her mother was a beautiful, white hedgehog with long quills down her back like Amy's, and light blue eyes that stared happily into the camera lens. Her father was a red hedgehog with two, long quills down his back and two, smaller quills sticking out from the top of his head like how Amy has her bangs styled. He had his dark green eyes staring at the camera lens while standing near his wife, who was sitting in a chair with Amy beside her and in front of her father. All three were staring at the lens with happy smiles on their faces. The last picture she ever took before their deaths.

She smiled sadly at the picture seeing how long it had been since their deaths. She's already nineteen today. Time flies when your growing and she certainly has for them. She remembered how much her parents had wanted her to grow up strong and healthy to take on the world as if it was a battle field and she was the leader of her army. Her father really did like to play around with his imagination once in a while. Amy lifted up her hand and kissed her pointer, and middle finger, then moved them to the frame touching the tips on her father, and mother. She smiled and bid them farewell. "I'll see you tonight, mom and dad. Wish me luck in heaven." With that, she left the house with her heart set on her task at hand.

* * *

"Aldar... Something is wrong. The kingdom."

"Yes, Lida, my love. I know."

"What will we do? That monster is out there and he's getting stronger. He's already captured several innocent people already!"

In a distant world, far far away from any cities of tall buildings, motorized cars, and electronics. A kingdom on the verge of distinction, the world was ending very soon. An evil tyrant had claimed victory over the dark lands of the world and gained the power to control the darkness and all who surrounded the area. This hateful ruler was known as Scourge. A dark green hedgehog with five, long, spikes trailing down his head and two nasty scars on his stomach he had been given from a past fight. His icy blue eyes would stare into your soul and give you nightmares just from one glance. He had been known as a nasty troublemaker in his days of poverty. No one had ever showed him any kindness as he grew and would only be scorned, or ridiculed for what and who he is. He hated being so used and disrespected that he no longer wanted anything to do with the kingdom of Celedane.

Celedane was a prideful and rich land full of life and hope for the people who lived there. No fights, no worries, nothing. It was perfect to say the least for the people who inhabited the land, but the hopes of their future rests in their king and queen's hands. As the kingdom grew and grew over time, the people needed a ruler to lead them to victor if ever there was a war. They had found a strong and proud king to help live on to pass the name and history of their treasured home. The king, King Aldar, was a golden furred lion. Feared by all and loved by his people. His wife, Queen Lida. A cream, furred lioness that showered the land of hope and care. Like a mother to her many children. But their kind nature had grown fearful over time. They could feel that their once happy life will soon fall to ruins.

Once Scourge had left that horrid kingdom he was born from, he decided to take matters into his own hands. And by that, he decided to venture out to the Forbidden Land of Darkness. There he had pledged his loyalty and life to the great king of demons in order to gain every bit of the past tyrant's power. He wanted to destroy the place that had shunned him and would tear open ever bit of the world as he continued to strike fear into the hearts of the good people. He had gained every power to control his new land. His new kingdom of death and despair. He had already destroyed plenty of homes and lands around the world and had saved Celedane for last. Scourge wanted to make them fear for their lives as each and every one of the other kingdoms go to ruins. He had taken many prisoners along the way and banished them to rot in their cages. Some were never heard from again, others were snuffed away by death by the rabid monsters that he himself had created. Why would he be the only one to enjoy the carnage when he could have plenty of his followers destroy what they touch?

It seemed the world was beginning to end, and the kingdom of Celedane was at a loss. Aldar and Lida had no idea what was to become of them. Will there be a way out of this nightmare...?

"Aldar...I'm afraid we have no way to save our world..." Aldar's poor wife shivered in his hold as they both stood in front of one of the large windows over looking the land.

Aldar could see a black cloud looming over what used to be lands of life, now completely dead to them. He never thought this day would come. He wanted to protect his queen and his people, but what could he do? Even his highly trained army could never defeat Scourge at this point. The wicked king is much too powerful to be stopped. The lion king looked away from the window and held his wife tightly. "My love...I fear that you may be right." he lamented fearing what she had said is sadly true.

"Your majesties.." The two grieving rulers turned around and saw an old woman, a black crow with a dark blue cape covering up her head and body leaving only her face and her hands out, one of them holding brown, wrinkled up wooden cane with a light blue orb fastened on top of it, "If I may...I have something that will help you."

"Madam Valga. Have you seen the future? Is our world going to be destroyed?" the king asked hesitantly.

Madam Valga is a very well known mage that has the gift of seeing in the future. She is well gifted with spells of either forbidden, or useful. She could only see what she can through her crystal ball on her cane, but only when the time is right for her to seek knowledge. And that time is now. She stopped right in front of them and looked up at the two. "I have, your majesty. And I say that the future will be dark, but I also could see light in it, too." she answered.

Lida released her grip on her husband, and turned around to face the mage now gripping both hands together by her chest. "Please, Madam Valga. Tell us what we can do. There must be a way to stop that evil king." The old crow smirked with a nod.

"There is...but you must promise me that what I will do is something that is very forbidden to our world, but it will help us. Promise me that whatever happens that you will do what you can to assist and guide her?"

"Her? My lady, you have us confused. What do you mean forbidden and who is this "her"?" Aldar asked now more confused than ever.

"First...I need you to retrieve your highest knight. One that will never run from battle and will follow her till she is in battle with King Scourge."

Now confused more than ever, the two looked at each other for a moment before Aldar looked over to his side and pointed at one of the guards that is stationed near the entrance of the hallway they were in. "You there! Go find the captain and bing him here, hurry!"

The guard saluted, "Yes, my lord!" then rushed away to fetch the captain without another word.

Lida turned back to Madame Vulga and asked, "Are you sure that what you are doing is going to help save this world?" she asked with a hopeful gleam in her eyes.

Madam Vulga nodded with a very determined look. "You have my word, your majesty. My gift is never wrong."

* * *

"Okay...it's now, or never Amy.."

Third class has finished and was the perfect time to strike. She knew where and when Adran will be and ran to find the place before he did. She only had at least five minutes before he comes out of his classroom to hang out with his friend, she also had just a few minutes more till she needed to head to her next class. Her thoughts on this one and only time she can do it. She had waited for a long time and will finally try to confess her feelings to him on her birthday. She had wished for almost a few years, or less that he wouldn't find a girlfriend before she could confess. She had been told to just confess back then, but she wanted it to be perfect. Nineteen is the last number of her teen years before she hits her twenties. Then she would almost be a full adult.

Amy ran out of the building, clutching the love note close to her chest as she rounded the corner of the brick building and rushed past a few trees and bushes till she reached her destination. The back of the building, and no one was around. No Adran, no buddy, no teachers, nothing. Everything was going smoothly for her. She walked up to the stairs and looked back and forth making sure no one was coming around and see her. She turned back to her letter and smiled brightly as a bright, red blush appeared on her peach, furred cheeks. "Please let this work.." she prayed in her mind as she sat the envelope down, then ran like hell over to one of the trees she had past to hide behind.

She really wanted to know what his reaction will be and hoped it was a good reaction. She actually didn't know why Adran would meet almost every day in the back of the school. Maybe he just needed some time to himself from all the teachers praising him for his A's and B's. She would understand if that was true. Amy's breath stopped as she saw her crush coming around the corner with his buddy that she had predicted. The fox walked on without even realizing that he was being watched by a very excited girl in the trees. He looked very handsome to her. His head had less hair with only a bit of it hanging down and covering up his left eye. He wore a dark blue, denim pants with black and white converses and a white shirt with a band logo on it. He also had a black hoodie on to cover up his shirt, but he did have a bit of the logo showing since the hoodie was halfway zipped up.

His friend was a light blue bat that had on black pants and a white shirt with a black, denim jacket tied around his waist. Amy thought his friend was pretty nice, too, but she didn't really have much about him. But he was fun to talk to when he was around Adran. She watched with anticipation as they both headed over to the stairs while they chatted quietly to themselves. She was able to over hear their discussion as she watched.

"So that game I was talking about? Yeah, they made a sequel and it is said that it might be pretty popular!" Adran's friend exclaimed with a wide smile on his face.

Adran rolled his eyes and chuckled, "Cell. You know that sequels are not that good. They always ruin the first." he counted back making Cell huff.

"I believe it will be good. They say that their is a knight that's rescuing a princess and it should have more battles and more 3d cutscenes!" He continued still feeling excited over the upcoming game.

Adran continued to chuckle until he noticed the letter Amy had left for him on the steps. "What the...?" he walked over to it and picked it up making Amy stop her breathing for a second.

"What's that, Adran?" Cell asked as he stepped closer to his friend to see what he was holding.

"Some letter for me." Adran answered. He ripped open the envelop and opened it up to read, "To Adran. I have always wanted to say how much I care about you, but I'm very shy to say it. So I hope that this will at least help you know how much you mean to me. You're so nice and smart and always looking out for those in need. I admire your kindness and have always thought of you as a great person. If you read this, please let me know what your answer is. I really would like to be your girlfriend and hope that the future will be great for us. Signed Amy Rose."

Cell blushed a little when he listened to him. He didn't really feel surprised since Amy had told him that she wanted to confess, but was too scared to do so. She did ask him never to tell him, so he was wondering what his answer would be. He looked up at Adran to see what he thinks, but to his shock, he noticed that he was holding in his laughter by biting his cheeks and lips.

"...Bud...?" The second he spoke, Adran burst into laughter making both him and Amy freeze for a few seconds wondering why he was laughing at this. "Dude? What the hell?"

Adran turned and showed him the paper almost pushing it into his face. "This...! This...This has to be...the funniest thing...I've ever read!" he laughed with a few tears coming out of his eyes.

Amy felt her heart began to break once she heard him say that her love letter was funny. _"He...He thinks it's funny...? But I thought..." _she thought as she continued to listen.

Cell was now glaring at his friend almost as if he was offended. "Dude! Don't be so cruel! Amy won't be happy if you tell her that her letter was funny." he reprimanded.

"Oh come on, Cell! You honestly think I would answer her question? I am nice, but I hate being nice to people! It's so tiresome!" just like that, he began to spout all the lies he had kept only to his friend, but never realized that his admirer was watching from afar, "Seriously! You get a few good grades and say hi to someone, and you're immediately the star of the show!"

"I thought that your nice because your dad was telling you to be nicer for once...?" The red fox just laughed in his face as he sat on the steps where the letter was placed.

"Duh! My old man did want me to be nice, but the only reason I am is cause he's paying me to be nice! I hate sharing, and caring! My mom told me that the world is nothing more than a pile of trash and my dad thinks he can change me by paying me! I already got a whole bunch of cool stuff after he had given me twenty fucking dollars each week!"

Slowly sitting down on the ground on her knees, Amy clutched her chest tightly feeling like her heart could burst out at any moment. She could't believe that all those times of him sitting next to her with a bright smile on his face and caring about her work and life, was all just a sham and only for money... Even Cell had no idea that Adran could be this cruel. He knew how much his mother was when she started out in the world at a very difficult time, but didn't think she would rub off on her own son. He felt very sad for his dad that is trying to change his ways, but in a very bad way.

Cell glared down at him, his fists were clenched at his side almost shaking in anger. "So...all that time spending happy moments with others like Amy is just a way to get more money out of your single parent...?" he asked in a dark tone.

Adran looked up at him and smiled a mean grin, a look a bully would have after taking candy from a smaller child. "You got that right. I was raised by my mom and after dad took me in, he tried to change me, but I doubt he would. Now for Amy...she's not that bright anyways. Why would I date someone who is too stupid and not even that pretty to begin with? Plus, she kept staring at me in class while I was trying to work! Talk about being too creepy, too."

That done it. Tears began to drop from her eyes and down her cheeks as she held in a small sob. She wanted so much to get out of her hiding spot and walk up to him to smack that lying, two-face idiot. But her heart couldn't make her stand up for herself. She always will be scared to fight her own battles. She thought he might've been able to possibly help her out of her fears and maybe make her stronger. But her crush only made things so much worse for her. Without even saying anything, she got up from the ground and ran away leaving the two to continue their fight. She ran right through a crowd of students and left the school premises leaving a few of the them watching with confused looks on their faces. She didn't want to stay anymore, she didn't care if she'll skip the entire school. She just needed to get out and just find a place where she won't feel hurt, or alone.

* * *

Madam Vulga had lead the two rulers into a large room in the castle, one where she had always stayed to either mediate, or look into the future for answers. The room was a circular round room with no windows, just three, tall candelabras with three candles stuck on the top giving the room a minor glow. The ceiling was high up with no hanging decoration, but the floor had a painted circle with a few words in a different language all around the outside. A big star was in the middle and another circle was painted in the middle of the star with a large symbol inside. All around the large circle were tiny candles placed on the side of the smaller symbols.

Aldar and Lida were strictly forbidden to enter the room, but this time was different. Madam Vulga had asked them to step inside the room she had told them to never come in. They were a bit confuses and worried about the outcome of this. They never knew that the old crow had painted a strange spiritual symbol on the floor of their own castle. But they were told to not say anything about it. Madam Vulga was very wise and knew what she was up to, tho it still worried the royal couple.

Madam Vulga lead them to the room and walked inside first letting them follow behind until she stopped in front of the outside of her painted symbol, then turned around and faced the king and queen. "Your majesties. This, I assure you, is what we are looking for. A hope for our world." she told them as she gripped the can with both of her feathered hands.

Lida looked around the room for the first time still worried of what the old crow was thinking about. "Madam Vulga, if you believe that this will help us, then please do what you can. You are what is the only hope of our kingdom, our world." Aldar nodded agreeing with his wife.

Madam Vulga shook her head slowly. "I'm not the one who you should hope for. That is to come very soon. Have you brought your most trusted knight?" she asked.

Aldar nodded. "Yes." he turned around to the closed door and called out for him to enter.

The door opened again and this time, one soldier came in with his head held high and a serious look in his ruby eyes. His black fur was like any other out there, a rarity to those born with the look of the grim reaper. His quills were styled down, but the tips were pointed upward, both his quills and head covered by metal plates, yet showed the red streaks in his quills. His armor covered his chest and had metal gauntlets with golden rings on his wrists. Red, and black, metal boots with the same gold rings on the top of his feet. Both his arms and legs had the same red streak going from his hands and feet up halfway in a triangle symbol.

He entered the room after closing the door behind him and walked over to the three before kneeling down on one knee, his arm over his chest, and head down. "I'm here, my king and queen. I was told strictly to come and see you." he spoke in a gruff tone of voice that would make his enemies quiver in fear.

The lion king nodded. "Thank you, Sir Shadow. You are our most loyal knight. One that is strong to handle the most toughest of fights" he pointed out as the knight, Shadow, stood back up on his feet.

"That is correct. I give my life for my kingdom and my sword will be yours to command." Shadow said as he took out a sword with the blade as big as his hand, and easy for him to grip and swing. The blade was a fine piece of metal made to show his enemies that his fight will not be clean if he kills them. The base of his sword was black with a leathery grip for him to hold easily. Gold metal spikes were on the side of it reaching from the base of the sword up to the tip.

Madam Vulga limped over to the knight and stood right in front of him giving him a strange and concentrated look. Shadow felt a little uncomfortable since the mage of the kingdom was up in his space making his body lean back a bit. She looked into his ruby eyes first, then looked at his shoulders, his arms, his head, and then his sword for what seemed like an eternity to the knight. Finally, after a few seconds more of checking if he was right for her plan, she limped back and nodded. "Yes...you are just perfect." she approved now turning back around to face the large symbol.

Shadow was still a little confused of what was going on since he was just told to come and meet the king and queen and Madam Vulga. He never had been in the room either, so it was still very confusing to him. He turned his attention away from the crow and over to Aldar giving him a look of "What is going on?". Aldar shook his head and turned back to the mage as she began move one hand over the stone on her crane while whispering under her breath an old language she had used so many years ago. Suddenly, the room went dark as the candles were quickly snuffed out making the queen cry out in fear. Aldar clutched his wife tightly and Shadow stepped closer to them holding his sword out in case he needed to fight something, or someone.

The blue orb began to illuminate in a bight blue light making the symbol on the floor glow bight blue like the color of the orb. Madam Vulga slipped her hand into her robe and carefully took out a small necklace with a beautiful, bright, green stone on it. The stone had a bit of some writing etched on it in what looked to be in an old language. Aldar could barely see what she was doing, but in a few seconds with her holding out the necklace before she dropped it to the ground, he noticed the stone and the words engraved onto it. His eyes widened and his mouth hung open in utter shock. "That...That's...!" he wasn't able to finish as the necklace fell from the old mage's hand and onto the floor having it disappear before it could hit the solid platform.

* * *

Amy made her way through her city hoping that she wouldn't get caught by any police that were out looking for students skipping class. She wanted to leave and go somewhere where she won't be found out. She did have a place in mind. She made her to a small cemetery with at leas a hundred graves buried inside the stone walls. She knew why she went there and hoped that the gates are not closed. She wanted to see them before she goes back home. She didn't want to return to the school. She didn't want anything to do with Adran anymore. Not after what he had said about her in such a cruel way.

She slowed to a stop in front of a metal gate that was the only opening to the graveyard. She placed her hand on the metal handle and gently pushed them, thanking god in her head that it was still open. She knew that the grave owner would usually have this locked on certain times, so she was thankful that this was a day when he didn't lock them up. Amy pushed the gate further open till she walked right through. Then closed the gates behind her before she turned around and started her way on the path that was marked for people to walk on if they didn't want to walk on any other graves. She counted in her head as she continued on after looking at east head, and foot stone she past. She clutched the straps of her backpack tightly trying to stop herself from crying anymore. She didn't want her parents to worry about her once she sees them again.

Finally, after passing at least ten graves, Amy stopped in front of a large grave stone with two familiar names etched into the stone. She knew who was buried here. She was there when they buried them. Her parents always did think of if they ever had a grave for their own, they wanted one big headstone so they could be buried together. Amy stepped up to the stone and sat down on her knees in the grass. She didn't care if she got her pants dirty from the grass, she just wanted to be closer to them again. Her eyes looked at the names of her parents and the date of their death. Kaiden and Lilah Rose. Her parents' names. She leaned forward with one hand on the grass to keep her up and the other tracing her finger across their names, feeling the engraving the one who had made their gravestone had done.

"Mom...dad..." Amy spoke in a quiet tone. She hated the way she spoke in front of them, her mother wanted her to smile, and her father wanted her to be brave. She swallowed and tried her best to sound more lively for them as she talked, "I know you wanted me to be strong...I tried so hard, but I don't think I can handle another heartbreak. I thought Adran..I thought he was perfect. But..." her tears began to come out again. She didn't want to cry in front of her parents. She wanted to reassure them that she was still happy, but after their deaths, so much hate from the foster families, and work to live, she felt like her time on earth is just a waist. She didn't want to be there anymore. She wanted to be with her mom and dad.

"Mommy...daddy...I'm so sorry...!" Amy clutched her eyes tightly and laid her forehead against the headstone finally breaking down after many years of holding her stress in. She wanted so much to heal, she wanted someone to heal her pain and give her life again. But after today, she was just tired of people lying to her. She felt like there was no hope for her at all.

Suddenly, a bright blue light was glowing right behind her. Her eyes were closed, but she could see a bit of the light shinning through her eyelids making them open again. Amy turned around slowly to look over her shoulders. She couldn't see what was glowing in front of her, but she could see a bright green ball was shinning through the light. It was impressive how she could see this happening when it was still daylight outside. Turning her body around to face the abnormal light, Amy covered her eyes with her hand as the light began to slowly float towards her. She wanted to run away, she wanted to scream. But something was stopping her from even standing up. It was like this weird light was controlling her mind and she had no way of getting out of it.

She closed her eyes halfway since it was almost blinding her to the point where she can't really see what's in front of her, but her arm began to slowly move upward towards the floating object. She tried to force herself to pull away, but the orb was controlling her hand making her reach further and further till her fingers could touch the object. Amy started to whimper in fear of what this doing to her and if she was possibly gonna die just by touching the object. Again, she tried to pull away which she almost did, but the object was able to force her fingers to grasp it tightly. The light that surrounded the object now began to surround her entire body causing the poor girl to scream in fear as her world, the world of electricity, and motors were slowly evaporating into darkness. Her parents' graves had disappeared in front of her eyes. She didn't want to leave them now! Something was pulling her away from them!

Amy clutched the object tightly in both of her hands and her eyes were clamped shut as she felt her body fall into darkness with only her cries of fear the only thing she heard.

* * *

"It is done." Madam Vulga spoke as her hand stopped waving over the orb.

The symbol on the floor continued to glow brightly with the three behind the mage watching at what was to happen. The king looked at the mage and exclaimed, "What do you mean? What is happening?"

Madam Vulga didn't need to say anything. She only stared at the symbol with a small smile on her face as the one she had brought into her world began to show herself to them. The king, queen, and knight watched with their eyes wide open as the figure of a young girl began to slowly emerge from the circle till she was fully out and hovering over the symbol. Her body was huddled in a tight ball and her hands clutching the stone Madam Vulga had sent her, tightly to her chest. Her entire body glowed brightly, the same color as the blue orb illuminating the room with a brilliant glow. Shadow was still in front of the king and queen with his sword out and ready to attack if necessary. Madam Vulga, without turning around to see what he was doing, gently waved her hand at him to lower his weapon still smiling at the floating girl in front of them.

Once the brightness started to dim, the girl's body began to slowly float down to the floor having her feet touch first, then her knees, and then her side as she slowly laid on the floor once the power of the mage's ability had finally stopped. The king and queen stared at the girl, unknowing of what to say, or do. Shadow didn't have his sword out, but kept his eyes glued on the new visitor Madam Vulga had brought. The mage waved her cane around making the flames appear again on the candelabras so the room was glowing again.

Lida slowly released Aldar and carefully walked up so she was now beside the crow still staring at the unmoving girl. "Who is that...?" she asked.

Madam Vulga quietly cackled to herself seeing how utterly shocked the three were, not even looking at them to know how surprised they are at the rare visit of someone from another world. "My queen...this is your hope." she proclaimed as she held out her cane and the orb pointing at the girl.

Before they could respond, the pink hedgehog began to slowly wake up from her unconsciousness. She slowly moved her head back and forth a bit till her eyes slowly opened, then closed, and opened again halfway. She couldn't see well from her blurry vision, but what she could see is four people in very strange clothes, staring at her with such a look of bewilderment and fear. She tried to get up, but could feel that her arms and legs were almost stuck to the floor where she was. She let out a small whimper making the queen feel empathy for the poor girl. The king didn't move, nor did the knight. So she decided to be brave this time. The queen slowly stepped into the circle without a word from the mage, but did get a fearful gasps from her husband as she stepped closer to the girl.

Lida made her way over, then sat down on her knees in front of her the poor thing. She carefully moved her hand over to her head and gently brushed away some hair from her swollen eyes. She could tell that the girl had been crying, but why? The girl slowly opened her eyes again and looked up at the lion queen. She didn't know why, but she slowly felt safe in her care. The woman had a soft, yet worried look to her features as she continued to care for her. "Miss...what is your name..?" she spoke in a quiet, motherly tone.

The girl didn't want to answer, but she didn't want her to be in fear of her. Even if she didn't have any weapons, or looked cruel, she wanted to at least show that she meant now harm to them. She looked over to the three that were still standing in the background, then up at the queen with a small, weak smile and said. "...Amy Rose..."


	2. Chapter 2

**Just to start, thank you very much for your faves, follows. Thank you to pinksakura271, BlackButler181, and Tessa the hedgehog for your reviews. I also kept butchering Madam Vulga's name, too. I did name her "Valga", but I think "Vulga" has a better ring to it. So she is now "Madam Vulga". Sorry for the small confusion. Let's get this started!**

**Chapter 2. Amy Rose, the Last Hope**

The young lady began to slowly awake as she opened her eyes a few times before leaving them open. She couldn't see much for now, but it looked as if she was in another room. Was it her room? The hospital? 'Ugh...what a nightmare...I dreamed that I went to some weird place after a big glowing light happened..' she thought while rubbing her eyes of any dust she had collected. Once Amy's vision was able to return, she was able to see where she was. And it looked like she wasn't dreaming this time. It looked like she was in a bedroom fit for a princess.

She was in a very large canopy bed with purple, velvet drapes covering one side of the bed, leaving the other open for her to see the room. A grand fireplace was in front of her with a large mirror over it, a purple, velvet couch and chair sitting right in front of it. A wooden wardrobe was on her side right by the bed, and besides a smaller bed side table with a small lamp on top. The walls were painted white with a few, large pictures of what seemed to be famous people. Decorative designs were etched in the paint to make it look more lovely. A large rug was placed on the wooden floor under the bed, couch, and chair. Lastly was a very beautiful chandelier that had glowing orbs of light which really surprised the young girl. Even the lamp had no light bulb, but a small orb like the ones on the chandelier.

Amy had no idea where in the world she was. She didn't know anyone that was regal, nor a rich person in her city. Well, there was a rich person, but not as filthy as these people. She took in the scenery as she gawked at how amazing it looks to just be in the room as beautiful as this. Her eyes landed back onto the small table and finally noticed the necklace she had seen before. So what she had witnessed before. The necklace coming out of nowhere, her being engulfed in a brilliant light, then sent to some abnormal place. It really was real. Reaching to her side, Amy carefully picked up the pendant and held it up to look at it more closely. It was a very beautiful gem, a green color like her eyes. It was a tear drop shape stone that glowed a rainbow color just from the glare of the sunlight.

"How pretty..." she said in bewilderment. She held it up by the string it was attached to so she could watch it twirl around slowly. Just then, a few letters seemed to come up from inside the gem shocking her greatly enough to drop the necklace onto the bed, "What in the world...?"

Once she had dropped the gem, the letters seemed to have disappeared instantly. Amy slowly reached down and gripped the string again and held it up again to see if the letters will return. And they certainly did once she gripped the necklace. She watched more closely as the letter slowly began to appear one by one till a whole sentence had appeared. It seemed like they were easy for her to read. "Magic within shall light through darkness and find those with the gift." she read, "...Magic within? Find those with the gift? What does that mean...?"

"It means that this gem shall help you on your quest."

Amy immediately dropped the necklace back onto the bed and whipped her head to the side so fast, she almost broke her neck. There at the door was the same old crow woman with two lions behind her and the black and red knight beside them. All four walked in slowly, but the crow made her way towards Amy, who was now scrambling off the bed once she saw that she was getting closer to her. "St-Stay back! I didn't steal anything!" she cried.

They watched the poor girl drop down from the bed, only to get a bit tangled up in the closed drape she had forgotten completely. The crow stopped just at the edge of the bed watching her pull herself out of the drapes and onto the floor. Amy had thrown herself down once she was finally able to get untangled, she sat on her bottom with her hands behind her holding her upper body up. Her quills were a bit wild since she was ruffling her head a bit in the velvet fabric. To her surprise, she wasn't wearing what she had on earlier, but a white, silk dress with spaghetti straps clinging to her shoulder and draped down to her legs covering her feet from how long the skirt was. She looked up at the four, who were just staring out of confusion of what she did just now. But that didn't stop her from freaking out. These people are wearing weird clothes and she was in some sort of princess chambers.

The crow finally spoke up, but only a small chuckle. She knew how scared this girl would be since she is in a different world from her own. "Do not be afraid, young lady. We only want to talk." she said in her crippled, but sweet tone a grandmother would use.

Amy carefully did a crab walk backwards till her back was now pressed against the wall that was closer to the bed. "Who are you people? Where am I? Where is the graveyard? Where are my stuff?" The lioness finally spoke up.

"Honey...you don't remember?" she asked in her sweet tone she used when she spoke to her for the first time.

She shook her head quickly. "No...No I don't.. I wanna go home! I'm sorry if I stole that necklace! It just appeared out of nowhere!" she whimpered feeling tears slowly begin to form in the corner of her eyes.

The knight watched still completely confused as to why the mage had summoned this girl from some other world. He turned his gaze away from Amy over to the crow. "I still have no idea why you have brought her here. Including me." he added on since he was still trying to wrap his head around this whole thing.

The mage turned to the knight and nodded. "I will tell you, Shadow. But let's let this poor girl calm down till we tell her." she instructed now turning her head back to Amy, "My name is Vulga. But I am mostly named as 'Madam Vulga'. I am a well known mage who has seen the future of our once glorious kingdom come to ruin, but I have seen you as our savior, miss Rose."

"Oh great, you know my name..." Amy gasped, "How am I a savior? I'm just an ordinary girl that is trying to get through life!" The elder lion turned towards Madam Vulga.

"My lady, Vulga. Are you sure this is the right person? She's such a frightened girl, she might not be what you have seen." The old crow turned to him with a small glare.

"Your majesty. My visions are never wrong. This young lady is our hope for our kingdom." she scolded before turning back to Amy, "My dear...can you please stand and come over so we can discuss why you are here? We are not enemies, only allies."

She really didn't want to listen. She was still scared out of her mind. But something about these people seemed alright to trust, except the knight, Shadow from what she had heard. She couldn't help, but feel a little scared of him. Tho he did look pretty handsome in her eyes. Slowly, but surly, Amy gripped the walls tightly as she pulled herself up off the floor and onto her feet. Luckily, her legs were not injured when she was transported, but she still felt a bit dizzy from sleep and how she was sent flying into god knows what she was in. Once she was on her feet, she moved herself around the front of the bed while literally hugging it with her hip till she gripped one of the nearest polls that held the canopy up.

Madam Vulga wanted her to at least rest some more, but she decided that since she was up and moving, it was time to explain. "First...I would like to introduce you to the king and queen of Celedane. King Aldar, and Queen Lida" she said as she moved her hand that was still clutching her staff now pointing the tip over to the two regal couple, "Beside them is Sir Shadow. He shall be you're bodyguard for your quest."

Both Amy's and Shadow's eyes went wide and shouted, "What?!"

"Don't shout. It's quite rude." Madam Vulga scolded again, her cane was back on the floor with both hands on top of the blue orb, "Now...I will tell you why I have brought you here. Please listen as best as you can."

Amy was still shocked at the fact that Shadow, some guy she never met, was now a bodyguard for her. Not to mention that she'll be on some weird quest like the stories and movies she had seen before. Madam Vulga began to speak as she gripped the bottom of her cane and used her other hand to wave over the stone. All four watched as she made the orb glow brightly again before a ray of light shot out from the orb and onto the floor. The light started to form a huge land full of greens and trees with lots of villages and a big castle, the one they were all in. "A long time ago, there lived an evil king who wanted to take over the land and use it for his own selfish needs."

The picture started to change to what looked to be a large male beast, a bear like monster with large bat like wings and a wicked grin that sent shivers down both Amy's and Lida's spines. "His name was Agrid, King of the Demons. He wanted this world as a land of dead, and rot. To rule over his undead slaves and destroy many other lands he could find. He had almost succeeded in taking our home for his, to rule over with an iron fist. But then, a hero appeared with six others beside them." The picture then showed the seven people she had mentioned, all standing before the demon holding up their hands making them glow different colors, "The hero held the power to combine all six elements to destroy the evil king. Light, Fire, Earth, Water, Wind, and Electricity. Once they were all combined, the hero vanquished the evil king till there was nothing left of him."

The picture showed only the hero with the six colors from the followers now coming together to form a white sword that shined brighter than the sun. The hero leaped up and swung the sword at the demon king making the picture fade into what looked to be a deserted land. "After that, the land the demon king had once ruled, was now a deserted waste land full of decay and dust. We call it the "Forbidden Land of Darkness". Anyone who is brave to venture out there will meet a terrible fate. The hero and the six chosen all disappeared once peace had been restored. No one has ever seen them since. That was over two-hundred years ago."

"But why does any of this have to do with me?" Amy asked as she was now sitting down on the edge of the bed with her hands together on her lap.

Madam Vulga didn't look up to answer now making the picture change to what looked to be a green furred hedgehog that was standing in front of a large army of beasts. His smile was twisted and his blue eyes stared directly at Amy as he began to laugh a wicked laugh. "This is King Scourge. He was once a normal citizen living in poverty till he was fed up with so much abuse, and ridicule that he had ventured out of the kingdom and into the Forbidden Land. There he was able to reach the place where the hero had sealed away the evil king. A sword was placed where the hero had trapped the beast, never to be taken again for if anyone had dared to touch the sword, they would die instantly. But Scourge was a very cruel and wise hedgehog. He had gripped the sword with his bare hands and pulled it out before he was dead. The demon king had finally come back to life after it was released by this foolish boy."

The image showed Scourge holding what looked to be the sword the hero had used before, but was now colored in black with a hellish glow to it. "Before Scourge had fallen to death, he had pledged his loyalty to the demon king, asking for his help in destroying the land and taking it as his own for his the king. Agrid was very taken back at how much this boy was willing to give his life so easily. He granted his wish. Agrid had fused his entire body, power, and soul into Scourge's body giving him all the powers of the demon king. He was now King Scourge, ruler of the Forbidden Land. We have tried to send our best soldiers to fight, but sadly...they were unsuccessful."

The image showed Scourge in the middle of a large pile of dead bodies he had killed. The sight of mutilated and bloody corpses sent massive amount of chills down Amy's spine just by looking at the picture. Several of them were lying motionless on the ground without their heads. Some had their chests open with their organs laying out of their bodies and onto the ground. Shadow turned his head away from the picture. He didn't want to see any of his fellow comrades dead in front of him again. He remembered that he had instructed them to go out and find Scourge, then eliminate him for good. None of them returned to tell their story.. He still felt awful for sending them into a losing battle which he felt that their blood wasn't on Scourge's hands, but on his for sending them out. Madam Vulga waved her hand to change the picture to a small figure holding the same necklace that she held earlier along with the six floating orbs surrounding the figure.

"In order to rid the world of evil, and kill the new king of demons, you, miss Amy, shall go out and find the six chosen followers who are granted their power of their ancestors. Only you have the power to search and give them their abilities to aid in your quest." The orbs began to flow out of as the figure disappeared and the map of the world returned. The orbs landed on several parts of the land having them shine brightly to show where the chosen people are, "Shadow. Please come closer."

Doing as he was told, Shadow made his way over before stopping just on the edge of the map. He saw how huge the land is with different parts to explore. Some of the places he had ventured before, but a few where the orbs are glowing, he had never been to so this might be interesting to say the least. Madam Vulga began to instruct as each orb she calls out shines brightly. "The first element. Light. You will find the chosen wielder in the castle ruins. Next is fire. There you will venture to the Ebit Volcano, a chosen weirder has been kidnapped and kept there for dead. Earth is in Treewood Forest. Water is hidden inside the waterfall near the town of Balem. Wind is found in the desert. Lastly, electricity will be hidden in the cold mountains of Everglades. Find all six elements, and you will have what you need to strike down Scourge once and for all."

Both Amy and Shadow watched very closely as each power they'll find were in places that looked pretty dangerous and tough to get to. She looked up at the old crow now feeling terrified of what her mission shall be. "Um...Madam Vulga, is it? I'm sorry, but...I don't know if I'm capable of doing this. I never did anything big to make me a hero. I'm just a nervous wreck waiting to happen." she protested. Madam Vulga nodded.

"I understand. But that is why I asked for the bravest and strongest knight to assist you." she pointed out as her cane finally stopped glowing making the map in front of them disappear.

"So you want me to go out with some girl who is not capable of fighting?" Shadow asked with a bit of an irritated tone in his voice. Amy looked back to him feeling sad, angry, and guilt since he was right about not able to fight.

Madam Vulga sighed. "Sir Shadow. I understand how you must be feeling right now. But if you wish for another day of your friends and loved ones to see the sun again, then you must join miss Amy in order to bring peace to the world. Only you can help her on her way." Shadow glared angrily at the mage.

"I do wish for my world to return to it's prosperity, but I never imagined to be with a weak girl like her." he growled making Amy shrink down a bit.

"Sir Shadow." The king finally spoke up again after both he, and Lida had been listening and watching very closely in the background, "Do not make this harder than it already is for her. Miss Amy Rose is here to save us, but she needs you to be there to help her. But if she is interested, maybe you could show her how to fight along the way."

Shadow glared back at the king, which wasn't the right choice, but Aldar knew why and didn't really care to discipline him more. He knew very well that Shadow was a lone knight and doesn't like to be in teams, or even around one person for long periods of times. Hopefully this will change him for the better. The black knight stared at him for a good few seconds before turning away and crossing his arms over his chest, head down, and eyes closed. "Very well...but I will not tolerate any sort of complaint at all." he grumbled.

"Then it's settled." Madam Vulga declared. Amy quickly stood up from the bed now fed up with all of this.

"No! It's not!" she shouted making everyone stare at her surprised, "First I was living my normal, boring life, and then I get sucked here by literal force, and now I'm also forced to go on some weird adventure with a rude hedgehog and find some ancient power in six different people? There's no way in hell I'm doing any of this! I wanna go home right now!" After she finally finished her rant, her voice began to crack as a few tears slowly began to fall down her cheeks. All of this was so new and abrupt that it was taking a massive toll onto her, almost breaking her fully.

"Who's being rude, now?" Shadow quipped now looking up to glare back at her after hearing that little remark towards him.

Madam Vulga sighed and shook her head. "I'm sorry, my dear. But I cannot bring you back home." she said sadly.

Amy glared at her. "Why not? You brought me here! You can take me back!" The crow shook her head again.

"It's not that easy, miss Amy. I did bring you here, but it took a great deal of magic, and energy to send you here. I'm afraid that you are to remain here till I am able to help bring you home. But I would still hope and pray that you are able to go and find the-" she was cut off by another shout from the frantic female.

"-No! I'm not going through with this! I'm scared, I'm worried that I'm stuck here possibly forever, and I just want to be happy again!" Before any of them could say, or do anything, Amy immediately rushed out of the room after pushing past both Shadow and in between Aldar and Lida almost forcibly.

Aldar turned and rushed to the door and watched her run down the hall. "Miss! Wait!" he called out, but got no reply back from her once she turned the corner to run further into the castle.

Madam Vulga didn't shout, or try to do anything. She instead turned to the bed and picked up the necklace that was still on the blanket where Amy had dropped it. Shadow was pretty ticked that she had just pushed him hard, almost making him trip over himself as he was stepping backwards a bit, tho he did kind of understood how this girl was taking so much in, that she was on the verge of a breakdown. Lida stood her grounds once she had rushed past her, after she ran out and Aldar after her till he stopped outside of the door, the queen calmly walked over to her husband and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, prompting him to look back to her. "I'll go after her. You stay here and help Madam Vulga make a map for the two." she smiled softly showing him that she had everything under slowly nodded, then gave her a small kiss on her lips before walking back into the bedroom while Lida went off to find Amy. Even though it was a big castle, she had a hunch of where she might've ran off to. Even if she never been here before.

* * *

Running as fast as she can, practically shoving anyone out of the way by force if she had to, Amy continued her way down each hallway she had taken. Not even knowing where she was going. She just needed to get away from what she was told. She didn't want to do anything so dangerous and frightening. All she wanted was the return home and live her pathetic life till she grew old, live alone, and die alone. It's what she was practically good at anyways, so why change it? Amy ran as fast and far as she could till she was pushed her way through another set of doors after rushing through door after door on her way here. She had to stop to take a breath, so this room could be a good hiding place till she could think of what to do to get herself back home.

She closed the double doors and leaned her back against them now able to breathe heavily from the long run. Her tears continued to fall rapidly, she couldn't hold herself back anymore. This place was so strange to her, and hearing that she can't go back home for a long while, tore her up greatly. She wanted to get back home so she could at least be in the same era where her parents are. She didn't want to leave them in the first place, so that old lady brought her there by force, away from her home. She wondered if anyone back home even knew where she was. Her work must be calling her phone that she had left behind once she was taken here. Her school must be wondering where their lost student is since she did leave before it was even finished for the day. She also wondered if Adran...

Amy's eyes slowly opened once his name finally came to her mind. After being here for so long, she had completely forgotten about Adran. Why did she have to think of that bastard's name at a time like this? Surly he wasn't too interested, or even worried for her for that matter. So why would she even think of him to begin with...? Her eyes looked further up to finally see where she had pushed herself into. It was a long hallway that had many paintings on each side of the walls. Each painting had what looked to be the first king and queen reaching down to the recent couple on the far end. Amy pushed herself off the door and started her way down the hall to look at the pictures much closer. One painting after another, it seemed that this world, Celedane, had many kings and queens in their time. The kingdom had been around for several decades to have at least five leaders to rule over it.

One painting, however, caught the young lady's eyes. A painting was beside another that had the two lions she had met earlier, but this was a younger lioness. A beautiful princess that looked very similar to Aldar and Lida. The young lady in the picture was a small, petite girl with long, blond, curly hair just a few inches below her shoulders. Her eyes were the color of the blue sky and her smile was so sweet, that if an angry person had seen her smile, they would immediately smile right back have no care at all. She wore a bright, blue dress with with a big skirt full of tule and silk flowers sewn on the ends of the skirt with a few trailing up the skirt in a triangle shape. Her bodice was a light blue color like the skirt with a lace ribbon, stitched from the bottom up to the top of her v-neck collar. Her sleeves were a little puffy made of tule and the same light blue color, the sleeves went down to her elbows, she also had white, satin, gloves that went up to her wrists. Lastly was her gold tiara full of sapphires and diamonds that was perfectly fitted on the top of her head.

Amy had never seen such a beautiful princess before. She might've seen some on the internet, but she was very pretty and looked to be a very sweet girl from the look of that smile. "Wow...who is this princess?" she wondered out loud.

"That is my daughter. Princess Maria." Amy jumped the second she heard someone beside her, she turned around and saw Lida walking calmly over to her with her hands held together in front of her. Her smile was very similar to the princess.

"Whoa! How did you get in here so quietly?" Amy gawked as she stepped a few steps back getting ready to run again if she needed to.

Lida chuckled quietly. "I have my ways, little one. And I knew you'd be here. This is where I would come to relax as well." she noted. She stopped right in front of the picture to look up at her daughter. She still held that king smile, but her eyes seemed to have a different look to them, "Isn't she beautiful? She was a wonderful person and loved this kingdom very much."

Amy stared at her for a few seconds to make sure she wasn't gonna jump at her to catch her. Finally relaxing her body to stand straight again, she looked back at the picture and said, "I've never seen a real princess picture like this before. ...Wait. Was?" she turned back to the queen once she realized what she had said about her.

The queen nodded, then turned away to look back at Amy. "This picture was painted just a few months before her death." she started, "She was very eager to rule the land. She was very close to achieving her goal...but once Scourge had gained all the powers of the demon king...he had attacked the kingdom out of vengeance. We were not prepared and had lost many in battle. The king demanded for an evacuation, but we all decided to fight for our home. Maria wanted to fight for her kingdom and had done her best...but..." her eyes began to water feeling uneasy to finish anymore.

The young rose didn't realize how someone that looked very innocent, could try and fight her home. She didn't look to be a fighter, but from what the queen had said, she still fought to save her people and home, yet went down with the rest of the fallen victims. It must've been hard for her to cope, losing her only child so quickly. She felt the same when her parents had died and left her alone. The king and queen must've had a hard time after her loss, but from the looks of it, they seemed to have the kingdom grow more and more stronger than before. If only she could feel the strength they had. Amy felt so alone and so lost, that she had almost given up a few times in her life. Even to the point of suicide.

"...I...I'm sorry..." Amy whimpered not even realizing that she had begun to cry again till she had spoke up, "I'm sorry..I didn't mean to be so rude...I'm scared.. I lost my parents when I was thirteen.. I've been so alone...I don't have the strength you have... I just wanna go home...I can't fight, I can't handle frighting things...I just-" her cries were stopped once she felt warm arms around her body. She opened her eyes to see that Lida had come over and pulled her in a gentle embrace. It felt so..familiar.

"It's alright, dear. I know how scared you are. We all are. But I will tell you one thing that being afraid is not a bad thing." Lida said in her soothing voice. Her hand was now on Amy's head, gently stroking her quills in a loving way a mother would do, "I don't see you as weak. You are more like my daughter than you realize. You are strong, you are brave. I know you can handle many hardships that come your way. It's alright to be scared."

Amy couldn't say anything after that. All she did was return the hug more tightly and covered her face in the queen's chest to quietly sob. She really missed this feeling of a warm embrace, even if it was a different person, it still felt like her mother was holding her again. Maybe this was what she really needed instead of some pep talk. Lida knew how much she was struggling and figured this would sooth her much better. She was scared and needed to be held again, like a frightened, little child. She continued to hold her tightly while brushing her fingers down her quills, being careful to not pull too hard. Miraculously, it had worked to calm the young flower down. It really was what she desperately needed and was happy to see that it had worked.

She slowly pulled away to look up at the queen, who was smiling down at her. "I'm truly sorry that you have come here for our selfish needs. And I know how frightened you are of this mission, and I do not want to force you at all...but...please? I'm not ordering you...I only want to ask if you are willing to try for us." she asked in a hopeful, but kind way. Her hand that was on her head went to her face and delicately wiped any tears that were left on her cheeks.

Amy really wanted to say now. She desperately wanted to say no. But the queen was very kind to push her in a motherly way to help her. It was a very scary task for her to even accomplish. Shadow was told to be there to help her and the journey will be very tough, but she would feel very guilty if she had let a kingdom, or the world go to ruins because she was too scared to do anything. If princess Maria can fight for her kingdom, then she will try her hardest to fight for their home. She moved her head back onto the queen's chest and held her tightly, just wanting to be in a "mother's embrace" a little while longer. "...I'll do it. I'll help you." she mumbled.

Lida smiled happily and squeezed her tighter. "Thank you so much..we are all in your debt." she whispered while giving her a little more time to calm herself. She continued to stroke her quills lovingly, and even gave her a comforting kiss on her head, something that small was able to bring a tiny smile to the frail rose's face. Unbeknownst to the queen and Amy, an eavesdropping black knight was by the door where they both had used to enter the room. His ruby eyes fell on the two as he listened and watched closely to see how frightened Amy was till she was held by the queen. Inside, he felt ashamed to be cruel to her at first, he still wasn't okay with being a bodyguard for her, but he didn't want to let her, his king and queen, and home down. ...He didn't want to let his princess down. Not again.


	3. Chapter 3

**First, thank you to Amefloza13, Guest, and pinksakura271 for your reviews. To Amefloza13, I don't know Spanish, but I have a translator app so thank you and the adventure has just begun! X3 pinksakura271, you ****definitely have a good eye on the story so far. But who knows what's gonna happen in later chapters? ;3**

**Chapter 3. First Night of Terror**

Amy jogged several feet past the opened gates with her bodyguard following behind her, a few feet at most. She was head strong about this journey of hers after the queen had helped her build up the courage she needed for the mission. It was going to be a tough battle for both Amy and Shadow, but with the knowledge they have, they might be able to get through just fine at the most. Once Amy had walked right through the gates, she noticed how amazingly open the land outside was. All covered in green trees and grass with a few flower patches here and there, and a wide open world for them to explore. She certainly admired the look of the open valley and how amazed she was just by looking from left and right to see many open lands and possible villages to find.

"How amazing! From you guys said about the world in danger, it doesn't look so bad at all!" Amy pointed out now turning around to face Shadow, who was still making his way over to her after she had jogged a little ways away from him.

He was still wearing his knight uniform, but had a brown pack wrapped around his shoulders full of supplies and food they'll need. Along with his sword he held on his waist. "It seems that way, but it will not be as beautiful if Scourge succeeds." he said now able to get a little close enough so he could stand beside her to see the wide open world before him, "We'll have to be fast in order to find the six elements. Do you have the Stone of Ages?" he turned to Amy before asking.

She moved one hand to her neck and lifted up the same pendant that she had received from under her shirt. She held it up and smiled. "Madam Vulga told me to always have it hidden away, but never to take it off. It's what we need to find them after all." she clarified.

* * *

**(Earlier)**

Once both Lida and Amy returned back to the bedroom, both Madam Vulga and Aldar were still in there along with Shadow, who had returned before they had left the painted room. A maid was in the room with them holding Amy's clothes she had worn before, now clean and ready for her to wear again. The old crow looked over to the door to see them coming back in. "Miss Amy...I see you have calmed down." she spoke up first.

Amy held her head down not knowing what to say to her. A gentle hand was placed on her shoulder making her look up at Lida. She gave her a reassuring smile and a small nod. Amy turned back to Madam Vulga and nodded. "Yeah...I'm sorry. And...I'm ready to know what to do so I can find those people." she said with her head held high.

Aldar nodded and held up a rolled up paper for her to see. "This is the map of our world. Our land has been marked so you know where we are. Madam Vulga has marked the places where you and Sir Shadow will find the chosen elements." once he instructed her, he turned back to Shadow and held the rolled up map to him. He took it from his hands and stuffed it in a brown satchel that he had brought with him on the way back, "Shadow has everything you both need. Food, water, and medical supplies."

"Alright...thank you." Amy said meekly.

Madam Vulga made her way over to her holding the necklace in her hand as she stopped right in front of her. "Only you have the ability to find the chosen people." she started now holding the necklace towards her to take. Amy did so and held the pendant carefully in both hands, "This pendant is a very special one called the Stone of Ages. The same stone that had been used by the legendary hero from long ago. Once you are close to the one who uses one of the elements, it will shine a bright color symbolizing what element they will be granted. Spiritual words will appear only for you to see and read. Once you say those words, the power of that element will rise out from the stone and into the chosen one."

Amy listened very closely so she wouldn't forget anything. She wrapped the necklace around her neck and held the pendant while Madam Vulga explained to her. She had also instructed Shadow before they returned to the room so he already knew what her task was, but for him to watch and protect her when they find the chosen ones. Once she was finished, Amy slowly nodded, still unsure and worried about this whole thing, but still did her best to show that she was ready. "I will not fail you guys." she said with determination in her voice.

"Very good. Now, remember to always hide that stone. Many people had been looking for this precious jewel ever since the hero had banished the demon king and hidden the stone from the world. Never, ever let it off your neck and always hide it from others except Sir Shadow and the six others."

"Is it really that special...? How were you the one to have it if everyone had been looking high and low for it?"

Madam Vulga only gave her a satisfying smile. "That is something you will find out sometime in the future, miss Amy." she noted before turning away from her and pointed her cane towards the maid that was still holding her normal clothes, "His majesty had asked for your garments to be cleaned and ready for you."

Amy breathed a happy relief since she wasn't okay with wearing what she had on. Sure her nightgown looked nice to sleep in and quite pretty, she still preferred to be in clothes that fit her more better. Moving around the old crow, she walked over to the maid and took the neatly, folded pile from her hands, then turned around to face the three. "Anything else we should know about?" she asked. The old crow nodded with a very serious look in her eyes as she stares directly into both Amy's and Shadow's eyes.

"Just one. Make sure that you do not let your fears take over. King Scourge might be able to find and try to trick you into doing awful things by manipulating you're sanity. Never let your anger rise for he will be able to control you easily."

* * *

"You think Scourge can easily control your mind if he gets into your head?" Amy asked while stuffing the pendant back into her shirt.

Shadow nodded slowly. "I've seen it happy a few times.. Anyone who has had a great deal of anger, or sadness, he can easily take control of it and turn you crazy. Enough for you to just attack without question." he answered and looked back to the large plot of land, "I have done my hardest to not show any sort of emotion so he wouldn't try to control me."

"...You had something horrible that happened to you before. Didn't you?" Amy asked.

"...Let's go. The first element will be many miles from here, possibly a two day walk. I know where the castle ruins are so I don't need the map for this." With that, he started his way down the dirt path that lead to the gate of the town. Amy watched him for a few seconds to register what had just happened. From how he didn't answer her to just skipping it entirely made her believe that something bad did happened to him. She decided to keep it to herself so she wouldn't cause a fight with him as she quickly kicked off a heel jogging over to him.

"Hey..I'm not from here, so maybe you can tell me about this place. The castle ruins I mean." Amy asked wanting to have a different topic to talk about.

Shadow rolled his eyes seeing that a quiet journey might not happen if she will be asking some questions. "There used to be a large castle that the old king of Celedane once lived. It used to be a strong building that can handle the toughest of fights. But Agrid was able to kill the king wanting to take over what used to be a thriving city along with the castle. That was when the hero rose up and vanquished the demon king."

Listening closely, she took in everything that he said wanting to know more and more about this demon king and how the hero was able to seal the evil being away. "Without a king, how were they able to go on?" she asked.

"The king had a son who was able to fight along side his father. After the king was killed, he was able to take the last living citizens to another place to call home. And that is where the castle and town is now." Shadow answered, "No one went back so they left the place to rot. Over two decades, the place is now condemned. Few had went to only search for things to sell in the market."

"...So why is it that we are going to the castle ruins when clearly, no one lives there? Isn't it kinda..weird?" Amy asked.

Shadow looked back to her with a serious look. "After Scourge took control of the demon's powers and before he attacked the castle, he took several innocent people from their homes and enslaved them in either his fortress, or somewhere around the world. Which is why we are looking for them right now." he answered in a serious tone.

Amy held her hand over her mouth hearing how this evil tyrant had taken so many people away from their homes and killed many others while he invaded the castle and castle town. "That's horrible.. So the six are those he had hidden away..because he knew who they were, or the abilities they'll receive?" she asked.

"That's the thing. We don't know if he knew about their ancestors' pasts. All Madam Vulga had told us before you have come to our world is that he had taken several people and hidden them away so no one could ever find them."

Looking down at the path they were taking, she started to think of how long they have been enslaved in their cages of some sort. Where they even alive? If they weren't, then what's the point in finding them to begin with? Amy gripped the pendant tightly in her hand while clutching her shirt along with it. "Shadow...what if we don't find them? What if we fail..?" she asked in a frightened tone.

Stopping abruptly, he held out his hand to her shoulder to stop her from walking after he gripped it tightly. She looked up from the ground back to him, showing her fears were beginning to come back after she had tried to be brave for him and those back home. "It'll be fine, Rose. I'm very skilled in swordsmanship, and many others. I'll protect you and help you find the chosen six. Understand?" he encouraged hoping what he said could at least lift her spirits up a bit.

It kinda did. Amy was a little worried, but there was another feeling she felt once he called her by her last name. The way he said it sounded a little comforting to the frail girl. "...Did you just call me 'Rose'?" she asked while feeling a little bit of a blush form on her cheeks.

Shadow took his hand off without showing any sort of emotion towards her. "Yes, I did. Is there a problem with it?" he asked. Amy quickly shook her head.

"No, no! It's okay! I just...well...it sounded nice when you said my last name." she smiled a bit feeling a little embarrassed.

He still held no emotion, but he did turn his head away after she said that last sentence. No blush was seen on his face, but Amy could tell he was trying to hide himself from her. "I sometimes address those by their last name. It's something I grew accustomed to in my home town before I moved here." he confessed.

"I see. So your not from around that sort of place either?" Amy asked feeling her smile grow a bit more now seeing a new topic to ask about, "So where is your home? Is it far from here? Were you a knight there, too? Or were you here to be a knight? How long did you stay here?" Shadow emitted a low and annoyed growl realizing what he had put himself into. This was going to be a long, long, LONG journey.

* * *

It certainly was along one from the start. Amy continued to pester Shadow about some things about him, the world he lived in, etc. Shadow wasn't too happy that she kept on asking some questions that were more hard to answer. He kept giving her one sentence answers hoping that it would shut her up, but she kept on going. This girl was a very huge pain in the ass, but he made an oath to his king and queen that he'll remain at her side to help her with this journey. If Amy had any sort of fighting abilities, he would've been long gone by now and let her do the fighting if they get into. He did wonder how she could stand in a fight if he wasn't around. Probably as poor as a blind man trying to fight a goat.

The landscape was an awe struck for many who never lived in the country side. It almost looked as if it would be in a landscaping calendar. There were mountains as tall as either Mount Fuji, or Mount Everest all around with smaller mountains and hills full of trees to make big and smaller forests. The path the two travelers were taking had lead them through the open plains without any sort of hardship for them. There were a few birds chirping around the air, along with a couple smaller creatures lurking around to find food for them. It was very peaceful to be out and just lie on the grass, or flower bed to relax. You never see this sort of thing unless you're living outside of the city limits.

All afternoon, Shadow and Amy had continued their walk through the open lands till the path had lead them to one of the many forests that they'll be going through on their journey. Amy wasn't worried in the slightest since she really liked being surrounded by trees sometimes. She liked how they would hide her from the outside world, not to mention how she adored to have a small tree house for her to live in a deep forest. It was also very pretty to be around the trees that with orange and yellow leaves making it look like she was in a fairy tale forest. Shadow, however, wasn't feeling happy about going into the forest. Unbeknownst to the other world girl, he knew the dangers that lie between the trees and bushes. Many monsters had infested the lands and had made their homes in different parts of the world. Forests are their favorite places to hide.

Much to his dismay that they couldn't walk around the large patch of trees, Amy was persistent on going in, not even realizing the danger that they might be in. Shadow had to endure her talk of persuasion since there wasn't anything that could make her want to leave and go around it. It would actually take a lot longer if they did, so going through is their best yet. After they finally entered, Amy was feeling happy to be surrounded by trees again, not even caring at all of what Shadow was doing. He was busy surveying the area in case he need to pull his sword out to fight. Most monsters wouldn't attack unless their provoked, but it didn't stop him from worrying about their saftey. He kept his hand securely on the handle of his sword in case he needed to pull it out in seconds.

For a long while of walking, talking, and annoying the hell out of knight with her twenty questions, Shadow had finally told Amy to stop for the night since it was getting dark and the night in his world is pretty dangerous to continue on. It also didn't help that they were getting further and further into the darkened forest since the monsters would come out at night to hunt. She didn't argue with that. She was already getting tired from their hike, and it did look like the forest was getting very dark in seconds. Shadow, on the way to find a spot to rest up, gathered up some broken pieces of wood on the trail to make a fire for them. He had a pretty good amount of small branches and tiny twigs to use. Amy wanted to help, but he turned down her request since he had a whole armful as it is. It didn't bother her as much, but she felt a little sad that he wasn't letting her help him. Was he always this stingy with people helping him?

Luckily, they had a little bit of light from the sunset to give them some time to search for a place to camp. Amy took a few steps further to see if she could find an open area to stop and rest while Shadow was still holding the large pile that kept him from going a steady pace. A few steps further was able to make her stop abruptly, making the knight stop himself so he didn't collide into her. "What is it?" he asked feeling a bit frustrated that she stopped in front of him.

She turned her head back and forth while ignoring his question. She could swear that she was hearing the sounds of water splashing. She turned around to face him. "Shadow...I hear water. Can you?" she asked.

He was a bit confused at first, but taking a second to twitch his ears back and forth to listen, he did hear the sounds of water himself. "I do.. It there might be a pond, or river that goes through the forest." he pointed out.

"Maybe that could be a good place to rest up for the night. What do you think?" Amy pondered.

Shadow had to think about that for a bit. Sure it would be good to sleep by a river in case they needed some water to drink, but it might also be a bad thing considering that dangerous animals could go to the river, or lake to drink, but see them and think their a threat. "...I'm not sure. We'll need to find somewhere else to rest." he answered.

Amy sighed heavily. "Come on..! What's the harm in camping out near a lake, or river? Besides, it's getting dark and there are not a lot of large areas to rest up unless you wanna climb a tree?" she smiled knowing that he couldn't fight with that.

And she was right. He really hated how she kept telling him that there are better ways than doing the possible safety pick. He sighed angrily and answered. "Fine.. But let's find a place close to the waters where any sort of danger won't come and find us."

She nodded happily and turned around to start walking again. Shadow groaned to himself while walking behind her, making sure to stay close to her just in case. The sounds started to get a bit louder and louder with each step they take until they finally reached their end as they stepped through a couple more trees. There in front of them was a wide open river with two sides open that might've gone through in and out of the forest. It seemed pretty long from one side to the other, which they needed to get to. And it looked pretty shallow so it was easy to move across. The sound of rushing water was soothing to hear and it seemed that no monsters were around, so Shadow didn't need to worry about anything. For now.

He finally stopped several feet from the edge of the river, and sat the pile of wood down on the ground while Amy made her way over to sit beside him and watch his hands work. No words needed since she wanted to watch without annoying him questions again. Shadow placed a few sticks in a small pile, then added some larger ones around it making it a circle shape. Once he was finished, he took one of the more thicker pieces of wood and placed it in the middle. Then grabbed a straight stick he could find and placed it on the middle of the thick wood.

He began to rub his hands back and forth very fast. Amy didn't know why he was doing that and wondered how his hands might feel after he was finished. She always had to use a lighter, or something when she needed to make a fire on a grill. Rubbing a stick on another piece of wood didn't seem possible to her. But, to her surprise, she noticed that with the way he was rubbing the end of the stick so much and fast, it started to get so hot that smoke began to slowly come out from the small hole he was making. Soon enough, a small flame began to appear, much to her amazement. Shadow moved the stick away, then leaned down so he was a bit closer to the burnt part of the wood, and began to lightly blow on it making the flame grow more and more with each breath he uses. In a matter of minutes, a small fire started to form making the black knight move away in time.

"Alright...that should help last the entire night.." he said while panting a bit from a lack of breath.

Amy was still amazed at how he was able to make fire from just two different pairs of sticks. "No way...! That's amazing!" she awed now looking away from the fire up to him, "I didn't know you could do that with those sticks! Where I come from, you use a lighter."

Shadow stared at her confused. "A...lighter...?" he asked. She quickly backtracked and started to explain.

"Well..it comes in different sizes and designs. Its a small little capsule full of some fire fluid, or whatever they put in. You have to use your thumb in order to create the fire by flicking a small lever on the top. Other ones, you just push a small button with your thumb and use your finger to press the trigger so the flame comes out."

He continued to stare at her while she talked. She had tried to make hand gestures of what you do with one lighter, then the other. But he was still not getting what she was talking about. "...Right.." She sighed knowing how much describing she might have to do for some other worldly things.

"Never mind...I'm jus surprised your able to make fire like that." He shrugged his shoulders, then moved back further from the fire pit and sat down with his legs crossed.

"It's not that easy to do. It took a while for me to get it to work. But if I had a fire crystal, I'd be able to make fire easily."

Her eyes widened at the sound of that. "Fire crystal? So there's more magic in this world? Not just the weird pendant and the lights in the castle?" she asked feeling more excited as she was literally hopping up and down on her knees like a small child would.

Shadow was a bit uncomfortable from how she reacted to that. "Of course.." he said wearily while throwing the pack off his shoulders and setting it down beside him, "There are many other kinds of magic abilities. Some like Madam Vulga are born with it, others like Scourge are gifted the ability. I don't use magic often, but I can easily use a crystal in order to make something."

"So...what are these crystals? Are they very special, too?" He shook his head.

"No. There common around Celedane. There's plenty out there and people sell them at a cheap cost, depends on what you get. It's also easy to use once you hold them in your hands."

"Are there different kinds of crystals? Like fire, water, earth, that sort of thing?" she asked.

He opened the pack while talking and took out two large apples and a large glass jar to use for water. "Correct. The crystals tho, they are not always used many times. You have a fire, or a water crystal in hand, and after using it about three times, or more, the power inside empties out and it's just an ordinary rock."

Amy nodded. "So like a battery." she pointed out.

"A battery?" Shadow asked. She shook her head and sighed heavily.

"Nothing...don't worry about it. But I like to see some of the crystals up close! They sound pretty cool!"

He shrugged his shoulders again, then held the apple towards her to take. "Eat this. I'll get some water from the stream. I'll also try to find more firewood since it'll be a long night for us. Don't go anywhere, and never stray far from the fire." he instructed.

She took the apple and held it tightly while looking at him confused and a little worried. "Alright..but why, tho?" she asked.

"Let's just say...anyone who ventures out in the dark without any means of light, will never see the light of the next day." with that said, Shadow stood up from his spot and placed his apple down by the pack, but kept the jar in hand.

Amy watched him start to walk away from the fire still unsure of what is really out there for him to make that sort of answer. "Wait! What about you?" she called out.

He turned around and pointed at his sword he still held around his waist. "I'm fine. I've dealt with the night terrors my whole life. Just stay there and don't shout." he warned her before turning away and walking further away from the light of the fire, and from her sight.

Thanks to his fur color, Shadow wasn't able to be seen so easily. She wondered how he could handle walking in the open without a small torch in hand, even a sword might not be able to handle whatever is out there. Amy turned away from where she saw him leave, and held the apple to her lips. She took a small bite of the fruit very slowly. Even with the growing fire in front of her, it still worried her greatly about what kind of monsters would even be around. She had read nocturnal predators do at night so the thought of being in a different world, who knows if the animals might be the same as the ones in her world.

Taking another bite of her apple, the young flower stared at the fire as the flames started to dance in a rhythmic way. It was soothing to watch and listen to the cracking wood under the flames. Thinking about it, right now reminded her of how camping was with her parents. She loved spending time outdoors and loved going to the creek with her father to fish. She giggled softly to herself remembering the time she accidentally hooked the fishing hook on her father's hat and sent it flying into the water. It was his favorite hat so he was a bit sad to see it disappear forever, but it was still a funny story that he would laugh with her.

Her mother wasn't too keen on camping, but she did like the long hikes she would take with her daughter. They would even try there best to find woodland animals to take pictures of. Amy remembered how her and her mother had found a deer standing by a tree and eating the leaves on the ground beside the trunk. It was amazing to see it up close. She really wanted to go near it to pet it, but her mother told her that it wasn't a good idea. She might frightened the animal. It was sad for her at a young age, but it was still amazing to see a deer up close like that. Amy was so focused on remembering the happy times that she hadn't realized she was crying softly. She really missed her parents and wished to have those memories be real again. Being out in another world and camping out in the open was interesting, but it's just not the same without her parents beside her.

"Hmm...Shadow must be taking some time to find some firewood..." she wondered out loud, not caring if she did, or not, "I wonder what kind of animals are out there.."

She actually didn't think she would be heard, but unfortunately, she was. And it's not a good thing either. Her ears began to twitch a bit after hearing a small sound of bushes brushing around. She looked up from her half eaten apple and turned back and forth to find the source of the noise. She didn't like how dark it was so whatever is out there had a pretty good camouflage on. Standing up slowly after picking up one of the more thicker and longer sticks, Amy held the stick up to fight while looking back and forth thoroughly. She couldn't see it, but she can definitely hear something was around. "Shadow..? Are you back? If you are, then come out..! I don't like playing hide-and-seek at night...!" she called out completely forgetting the warning Shadow had told her. Not to shout.

Finally, the figure that was out there started to show itself to her. It truly was a monster, not a normal animal like she had seen in books in her world. The light of the fire was able to have it shown to her, and it wasn't a pretty sight. The monster was a panther like animal, but it had two long tails that were swaying back and forth that looked to have stingers on the ends of it like a scorpion, large fangs like a saber-tooth tiger dripping with drool from what she could tell. It's body was very skinny enough to show it's ribs and it's legs were thiner as well, but it's paws were more bigger to hide it's larger, sharper claws. It's deep red eyes stared at the trembling girl seeing that she was a prey and wasn't moving so it could attack.

"Okay...your definitely not like the animals back home..." Amy quivered in fear as the monstrous cat creature began to stalk her with it's body hunched low and tails upwards ready to strike. She held the stick up to attack, but she was too scared to even move her arms, or even move away in case it pounced.

The creature wasn't able to get close enough because of the light from the flames. It was true that Shadow told her to remain near the fire. It seemed like the creatures like this didn't like the light of any sort of way. Sun, fire, anything. Amy did her best to remain still and had her eyes glued on the monster after it stopped it's stalking so it was at least several feet from her. But that didn't stop it's tails from pointing directly at her. In one strike, the tails shot right at her making her scream in fright. She finally forced herself to move out of the way causing the tails to stick right into the fire burning them easily. Tho, the wood scattered around from the force of the hit so the flames were easily snuffed out with only a bit of the burnt wood showing.

Amy dropped to the ground on her side and quickly turned around to face the creature. Now with no fire, she's completely vulnerable to this monster. It was even worse when she could barely see it with only a little light from the moon shining down at it. The monster turned to face her after it was done screeching in pain from the flames, it didn't stop itself from wanting to rip her throat out. She tried to crawl backwards, but her body wasn't able to move again. She had never been so scared in her life and it was causing her to literally be stuck. All she could do was wait till this monster could attack her. It finally reeled itself back before launching into the air after pushing off it's hind legs and right towards Amy. She let out another shriek in terror and covered her eyes waiting for it to bite her.

Suddenly, she heard the sounds of heavy feet rushing towards her and the sound of a heavy grunt followed by an agonizing wail from the monster. She slowly opened her eyes, then widened them after she watched Shadow practically wrestling with the monster. He held his sword out sideways with one hand on the holder, and the other on the blade. The monster was leaning against it with it's front legs and trying to reach towards him with it's head while snapping it's jaws at him. Shadow struggled hard with the creature feeling the more taller being start to push him back. His feet were digging deeper and deeper into the ground trying his hardest to push it forward.

"Rose! Get the fire going! NOW!" he yelled while moving his head back and forth each time the monster attacked with it's mouth.

Amy finally shot herself up from the ground and over to the firewood without word. She could see that the charred remains of the wood were still burning, so she quickly gathered them up with the same stick she had picked up and piled them all up again. Leaning down so her face was closer to the burnt area, she started to quickly blow onto it watching it glow a few times. Sadly, the flame wasn't starting, the wood wasn't too hot enough to start a fire. "Shadow..! The fire isn't starting!" she cried out now moving her head away to look up at him.

Shadow growled under his breath in anger. He really wished he kept a fire crystal in hand since they needed it right now. The monster wasn't letting up and it was getting very impatient. It reeled it's tails back again, then shot forward striking the knight in the chest and head. Shadow was quickly jump away, but wasn't too quick to dodge one of the tails that sliced a good cut on his arm. He grunted from the pain, but didn't care to see how bad it was. The monster was still trying to strike at him. He kept jumping back and forth with each strike it did until he jumped away and slashed his sword down on the tails cutting the stingers off easily. The monster backed away while crying in pain while whipping it's tails back and forth spraying purple blood all around.

While the monster was distracted, Shadow quickly rushed over to Amy's side and basically shoved her away so he could restart the fire. Amy didn't shout at him for pushing her, she was too busy trying to looking for any sort of way to make a fire more quicker. Without thinking, she got up while Shadow was using his spinning stick technique and rushed over towards the edge of the water. There were tons of stones, big and small all around so she didn't have to search for long. She grabbed two large stones that fit well in her hands, then ran back over to him and pushed him out of the way this time. "Do this!" she shouted as she began to smack one stone against the other as hard as she could.

Shadow was confused as hell, but his worry was quickly replaced by fear as the monster was finished squealing in pain and was charging at them. He grabbed his sword and shot up from the ground in time to block the creatures attack by slamming his sword against it. It was close to swiping it's front claws at the two, but Shadow was quick enough to block the attack, now they were back in the same stance as before. This time, it didn't have it's tails to attack, but it did have it's fangs to strike. Amy was still busy cracking the stones together trying her hardest to start something. Whatever was out there was able to hear her silent prayers of rescue as the stones began to shoot tiny bit of sparked particles onto the small bit of grass she had thrown in while moving the wood together. After a few more times, she could see that the tiny bits of broken stones were causing the grass to burn more quicker.

She lowered herself back down after dropping the stones and began to lightly, or try to be as light as she can to start the fire. A small flame began to show itself on the blades of grass bringing a big smile onto her face. "Shadow! I got it started! I got the fire started!" she yelled again.

Taking a quick second to turn his head to look over his shoulder, he could see the small flame sprouting out, but it was still too small to ward off the creature. "It's too small! Find something to make it bigger!" he yelled back now turning his attention back to the creature just in time to dodge another bite attack.

Amy had to think fast. She had nothing with her that could make the fire grow bigger, she couldn't gather any leaves in time, and she wasn't sure if clothes could burn fast if she had ripped a piece from her shirt. She quickly crawled over to Shadow's pack and grabbed it. Then opened it up and reached in to feel anything for her to burn. She felt something like a paper inside, so without thinking, she took out the rolled piece of paper and ripped off at least a good chunk of it. Then threw it on the flame almost putting it out for good again, but the flame seemed to burn it more easily. She leaned back down and lightly blew onto the fire spreading the flames more and more till the piece of the paper was now covered in the fire. Amy ripped off another piece of the paper and crumpled it up before throwing it on the fire to make it more bigger.

Shadow was getting tired from holding the monster back and it was showing as his arms were cramping badly. The monster was also getting tired, but it still tried it's hardest to get at least one bite of his head. He grunted and growled as each time it reached towards him, his arms would loose more and more control of it. Before the monster could try and reach for his head again, Amy ran over to both of them with a torch in hand. She was able to make the fire as big as she could and had it on a thick stick to create a small torch for her. The monster saw the light of the small flame and began to squirm away from the two. Shadow grabbed the torch from her hand and began to step towards the creature swaying it back and forth to scare it more. The creature had no other choice since it's tails were ruined, and it had no stamina to attack anymore. With one threatening hiss, it turned around and ran back into the trees to hide.

Finally, the battle was over and done with. Both hedgehogs were panting heavily from the ordeal. Well, Shadow was literally out of breath, and Amy was trying her best to calm herself down. "...My world...my world never...had anything like that...before..." Amy spoke up softly with each breath she took.

The dark knight turned around and stepped over to her still holding the torch in hand. "...I'm...glad your knowledge...for fire came in handy.." he pointed out since what she did with the stones was very interesting and new to him, "Where did you...learn that technique..?"

She smiled softly. "...I used to read a lot in school.. I did a project about cavemen and...dinosaurs.. That's what they used to use back then.." she answered proudly.

"Well..I'm glad you remembered something.." he turned away from her and made his way back over to the small fire pit with a much bigger fire that had grown a bit after she had left to fight with him.

Amy followed behind till she stopped and sat down on the same spot she was on while he sat down where he was before. "Me too..I completely forgot till I remembered my homework from back then." she chuckled a bit to herself till her eyes landed on the small cut that was on his arm, "Shadow, you're hurt!" she crawled over to his side in a second to check on his small wound.

"Rose, I'm fine. I don't-" he was stopped suddenly when her hands gently took his arm and held it up to check more closely. She wasn't too close, but he could tell that she was in his personal bubble. Tho, he didn't say anything to stop her from getting closer to him. His body froze up when she touched his arm. Probably the first time she ever touched him and the way her hands felt, it was...nice. The cut wasn't too deep, but did need to be patched up. Turning away from him, she lowered his arm down and leaned over to grab his pack to fish out the medical kit. Once she did that, she held a small wooden box that contained a rolled up wrap, needle, and some thread. She didn't know why the needle and thread were in there, but let it go since she only needed the wrap.

"What kind of creature was that...?" Amy asked while she placed the box down, then carefully unrolled the wrap up till she had a good length to rip it apart.

Shadow turned his focus on the medium size fire in front of him. "The demon king had created several monsters in the past, but after the hero had sealed him up, Scourge was able to harness the power to create the same type of monsters Agrid had made. That was one of them. A werecat." he answered quietly.

After she got the wrap all ready for him, she gripped his hand and held it up so his arm was raised a bit. She then started to carefully patch up the wound with the wrap until it was covered up. She tied the ends tightly making sure it was secured so it wouldn't slide off easily. "I see...so that creature...a werecat. There's more like it, right?" she asked now looking up a him. He turned his head to face her again.

"Correct. And they'll come out to attack us unless we keep the fire going strong till morning." he assured.

She nodded, and slowly crawled back to her spot, but turned around again to face him. "Hey..Shadow?" she spoke quietly.

"Yes?" he answered.

She smiled softly before saying. "Thank you for saving me. I'm glad you were close by."

He stared at her for a few seconds until he finally turned his head to the side now looking away from her. "..You're welcome. I'm supposed to keep you safe anyways." Even though he had turned his head away from her, she could've sworn she saw a bit of red on his cheeks. Or maybe it was the glow of the fire.

Amy giggled quietly to herself. "I know. I'm just thankful of your rescue." she said happily before leaning back on the ground so she was now resting on her side facing her back towards him and the fire. "After that whole mess, I'm too tired to stay up."

Shadow turned his head to face her again, but only saw her back to him. "You didn't have to fight a werecat, so why are you so tired...?" he asked in a sort of sarcastic way making her giggle again.

"Don't have to be tired easily."

He rolled his eyes at that, then turned away from her to stare at the dancing flames. He was still amazed at how fast she was able to create fire. It took a few minutes for the stick technique to make a spark, so whatever she used, it was fast and simple. "By the way. How did you make the fire grow so much?" he questioned.

Amy closed her eyes to rest, but answered for him so maybe he would know what to do if he needed to start a quick fire himself. "I used the stones to make it. It needed to be flat stones so I got lucky to find two of them. I also used a bit of the grass and some ripped up paper." she explained.

At first, Shadow was able to understand why she needed to use the flat sides of the stones and some grass with the wood, but what caught his attention was the last bit. He turned his attention towards her, even if she was facing away from him, she could feel a tense stare from his gleaming eyes. "...What paper...?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4. The Shocking Truth.**

"Look, I said I was sorry.."

"Sorry doesn't exclude the fact that you literally ripped off a piece of the map! You lost one area of the map we needed to go!"

"Hey! Did you wanna wait for that monster to kill us while waiting very slowly for the fire to start again? I think not!"

It had been several hours of nothing, but complaining and arguing from the two once they both woke up from their sleep. Amy had explained how she didn't realize what she had done and had to use something in order to feed the fire so it'll grow more rapidly. She didn't realize that the 'paper' she had took from his pack was actually the map they were given by the king. One corner of the map was ripped off which had one place they needed to get to in order to find the next element, wind. Shadow knew very well of most places that they could get to, but the place where that element was, he had no clue on how to get to.

Now, while they were on the path again, Shadow and Amy continued to fight through morning, till noon. Not one sentence was able to get them to stop. Amy was sassy, and Shadow was arrogant. They didn't want to say who was wrong and didn't want to apologize at all. Shadow was beginning to grow very tired of this never ending fight that he was close to just grabbing her by her throat and threaten her to say another word. He'd never hurt her, nor anyone that's innocent, but he was very, very close.

Amy, however, was beginning to feel very emotional about the fight. She knew she was in the wrong for ripping up the map and probably had lead the werecat to her if she hadn't been calling out to him. She wasn't too egotistical to admit she was wrong, but just wanted Shadow to stop and forget it ever happened. Shadow was in front of her as they walk, keeping his eyes directly on the path without looking back at her. He didn't want to see her at all being so frustrated, but if he did, he'd see that she was beginning to slowly break from so much yelling and arguing.

"I had everything under control! I have fought with countless of enemies, big and small!" Shadow roared, "We may have had a hard time last night, but now with that one section of the world destroyed, our work will be more aggravated than ever!"

Amy looked up at the back of his head with tears slowly forming in the corner of her eyes. "What are you saying? Is it because I'm annoying you? Is that the reason why you say it'll be more aggravated than ever?" she asked in a demanding tone.

He growled angrily and spoke up without even thinking at all. "Yes! I'm already sick and tired of dealing with your annoying questions and complaints!"

"FINE! I'm sorry! I won't say another word again! In fact, I'm done being around you if I only make your life a living hell!" Amy screamed out loud, her throat had hurt a bit from how hard she made her voice sound loud.

Shadow stopped and turned around to argue back, but before he could say anything, he watched her run up and passing him in a flash of pink. Amy held her head down and eyes closed, but from that split second, he could see some tears slipping out from her eyes and down her cheeks much faster since she was running. He stayed standing still, contemplating on what had just happened. Her words had slipped right into his ear, and out the other so fast, he had almost lost what she said. What he did remember was when she said "make your life a living hell". That sentence was what made him stop his rant. He was still upset, but he took a few seconds to realize what was going on with her finally.

Amy was in another world full of monsters that could kill her if she wasn't careful. She left her home, her friends, she had no family to go home to. She was a complete wreck and she might've been hiding it for a long time trying to be brave. For some world she had no experience with, and possibly for him. Shadow now felt like a complete idiot once he realized that he was in the wrong for even shouting at her. He did tell her to make the fire bigger and they had very little time to try and get the fire going while fighting off the werecat. So in other words, it was both their faults. He was too distracted about the map and his pride got in the way again. He had told himself to never show that awful side of himself to others, but he sadly let it out at a wrong time and person.

He wasn't the kind of person to apologize at a drop of a hat, but it might be able to at least help her a little bit. With a kick of his heel, Shadow took off running after the poor girl. He was a pretty fast runner, but more faster if he had used his specially made shoes. But Amy wasn't that much of a fast runner, so he was able to get up to her in a matter of seconds. "Rose! Wait!" he shouted out to her once he saw her form getting closer and closer to him.

Amy kept her eyes forward and ignored him since she didn't want anything to do with him any longer. Shadow caught up to her instantly, he grabbed her wrist and pulled back a bit to stop her from going any further. "Let go!" she cried trying to rip her wrist out of his grip, but he wasn't letting up at all.

"Not until you stop moving." he pulled her again to stop her from trying to fight him for her freedom, Amy was a fighter, he'll give her that.

"No! You said I annoy you and I won't ruin your life again because of how I am!" she argued still trying to pull and wiggle as much as she could. Her wrist began to hurt from how hard she was pulling, possibly making a bigger mark if she didn't stop.

He finally had enough of her rambling and decided the best course of action was to pull her towards him and hold her down with both hands gripping her arms tightly while staring into her glossy eyes. "I never said you ruined my life! Now shut up and let me speak!" he yelled.

Amy was stunned at how fast he had pulled, turned, and held her tightly to keep her from fighting. From how loud he yelled, and how tightly he was gripping her arms had silenced her completely and had stopped her from trying to force herself away from him. He felt her body shiver slightly from the way he had demanded her to stop, he honestly didn't mean to yell at her in that kind of way, but it was the only thing he could think of to silence her. She was too afraid to even move in case he would do anything to hurt her. He was so strong, he could easily strangle her in seconds if he wanted to.

The two stared at each other for what seemed like a minute, or two, just waiting to see if one would say another word, or if she would try to fight him again. Both were slightly panting from his yelling, and her wiggling around so it was the only thing they both heard for that time. Once he could tell she wasn't going to run away again, and or fight, he slowly unlatched his fingers from her arms and moved them up to hold her shoulders, but much more softly this time. She was still afraid, but the way he was holding her this time was helping her calm down a bit. Her arms felt a little sore, and so did her wrist. But he still tried to at least hold her in a gentler way this time. He decided to speak again now looking a bit sympathetic. "...Look...I may have said ungrateful things, I hurt you to stop you from leaving me...and I haven't been a supportive person right now.." he started while looking away from her with his eyes, "But...if we're going to get through with this..we have to work together."

"...How can we when we'll fight over little things...?" she asked in a soft voice.

He looked back to her now looking a bit frustrated again. "Ripping up a piece of the map is not 'little'. ..But yes, we do fight, but I gave an oath to the king and queen that I'll help you. I may not be...alright with it..but try your best to be patient with me..." He really doesn't know how to apologize, but to her, it almost looked like he was trying his best.

"...Why is it hard for you to open up to me?" she asked, "You've been so moody since we left. I'm the reason, aren't I...?" He slowly shook his head.

"Half of it is...but another reason is because I've dealt with many problems in my life that I have shut part of myself away so I wouldn't get hurt again..." he answered now with a small blush appearing back on his cheeks.

"..You were hurt. I knew that something was bothering you. But it's not right to bottle up your emotions like that. I don't like fighting either, but I want to help you. I'm sorry for making it harder for you, but I do want to help you."

Shadow slowly moved his hands off her shoulder and down to his sides while looking away from her. "There really isn't a way to help me with this, Rose.. I also try to keep myself from going off on you because of the situation you're in." he added.

Amy was a bit confused from what he said in the end, but soon felt a little sad, for herself and for him as well for putting him in situations like this. "I know..I didn't ask for this..yet you decided to go on this journey with me despite the fact I'm just a whining, complaining and pathetic girl.." her ears dropped lower and lower with each word she called herself.

Gentle fingers gripped her chin and pulled her head up to look back at him. Shadow was a little angry again which made her a bit uneasy, but he also held the same sympathy in his eyes. "No, Rose. You are not any of them. You are special, which is why you were called here to save our world. Any other person would be taken, but they were not selected to wield such power you have within you." he comforted now taking his hand away, "True...you do complain and you don't seem to know any sort of way to fight...but if it helps you, I'll teach you some ways of how to protect yourself if I'm not around. I can tell you have some bravery inside. You did succeed in starting the fire with just stones than a fire crystal, so I'm sure your able to pick up on some easy skills to defend yourself."

Amy was listening, but she was also blushing a pretty deep red color from how he was holding her by her chin, and the way he was comforting her. This was pretty new for him and she liked how he was trying to help her and not be such a downer. She had been a couple times, but he was still able to push her in order to keep her head up and not lose her confidence. Scourge might be watching them and would try to manipulate them if they're easily depressed from what Madam Vulga had instructed them. Amy held a soft smile to replace her frown she had, and nodded. "Thank you, Shadow..that really means a lot. And I'll try not to slow you down." she said with a little determination.

He nodded. "Alright. I'll do my best to help you if, and when you need it. But..try not to ask too many questions..." he asked in a slightly annoyed way.

She couldn't help, but giggle a bit from his question, but nodded quickly. "I'll try. I do ask a lot at times, but I'll keep them limited." she said.

"Alright..now that we have this sorted out, and you won't run away from me again.. Let's continue on." Shadow instructed as he started to walk past her.

With a smile, another nod, and a determined look, Amy quickly rushed over to him slowing down to now walk at a steady pace beside him. At least they did get through their first fight. At first, Amy didn't want to continue going along with this stubborn knight, her arms were still stinging from how tightly he held her, but from the way he was trying to help her, even the way he comforted her, it was reassuring to see that he did have a soft spot somewhere in his heart. Even if he held that brooding expression on his face, it looked as if he was trying to help her in his own way. He will need to tone down the way he gripped her if he was gonna be around her, though.

She also could tell that he was hurting inside just by the tone in his voice, his eyes, even the way he moved. Shadow must've been struggling with a burden all his life and it looked as if it was eating himself in and out. She still wasn't too fond of a moody knight tagging along with her, but she was now keen on seeing what his past was and hoping to maybe help him restore a bit of himself so he wouldn't be too angry, or sad all the time. Getting him to open up will be a bigger challenge, but with this journey, and possibly longer from the little mistake she had made with the map, she'll have a lot of time to get to know this mysterious male.

* * *

The entire day had passed and the night had come and go. It was actually a more relaxing time for the both of them. Amy had done her part of the deal and kept herself tamed with only a few questions once in a while, while Shadow kept his part and made sure to not be too upset with her. He answered some of her frequent questions about he world he lived in, and he even asked a few from her world. It made her happy to see that they were getting a long slowly. It wasn't much of a change, but baby steps were okay to have. Shadow was still a little peeved about the map incident, but he began to slowly let it go when she was explaining how her world works with technology. He was quite fascinated at how she could use a small machine built to talk and message people. Hell, he didn't realize that he could use a metal box to make burnt bread.

Amy giggled at how his eyes would widened each time she would explain the electric object to him. He was now asking the multiple questions this time, but she didn't have the heart to tell him that he was doing the '20 Questions' game. It was honestly cute to see him react to something so mundane being used in her world, be the most interesting thing he had ever heard of. If only she had her phone with her, then she would be able to show him how an iPhone worked. Though...she might not have good reception where she was, so probably wouldn't have been able to show him any games she had.

Shadow was very astonished at how her world was so much different to his. There were moving coaches that didn't need a horse to pull, big, and small objects that didn't need crystals in order to power them up, just plug into a wall. A weird place called 'Mc Donalds' that people go to eat fattening food and hang out at times. Her world sounded so fascinating that he honestly wished he could be spirited away to her world to see it for himself. He had always thought that there might have been worlds out there than just Celedane, or even other places around the world. He had traveled from time to time, but nothing as interesting at hers.

It also was nice to see Amy smiling again. He still felt bad for hurting her when he gripped her arms tightly. She did try to hide the marks with her jacket and even tried to keep it a secret from him, but he can tell that she didn't feel comfortable with the marks on her arms, or the small bit of sting. He still remembered how frightened she was of him when he yelled at her. It wasn't the first, or even thirtieth time that some woman looked at him in a frightful way. He was pretty much used to it. But that one girl...the princess didn't see him as a monster that everyone had portrayed him as. He remembered that she treated him with such kindness that he was able to open up himself to her and care very much for her up to her death. It was still the hardest thing to even keep himself from thinking about, but once in a while, he would remember that fight and how he had lost the light that had given him hope for the future.

Amy, for some reason, was making him have these memories of her. It wasn't often, but every time she would do, or say something, he would remember the princess and how she almost resembles Amy. When she talked about her world and would laugh at a few stories about a certain object, or time of her past, she would have a big smile on her face that would immediately send flashbacks to when the princess smiled brightly. He would argue with her every few hours, or less, but after that talk/deal they had made, she was much more tolerable, and actually entertaining to be around. Dare I say that he was actually feeling more calmer just by being close to her. Was it because she resembles princess Maria, or is he slowly growing a bit fond of this weird, and annoying person?

As the sun began to set and the moon slowly began to rise, they only had a bit of light from the sunset to find the castle ruins in order to find the first element. Shadow had told her that they were getting very close to the ruins, and she could tell that he was right. On the way there, they had passed through another forest that was much bigger and darker, hiding away the shambled pieces of what used to be a thriving city. She already felt a nervous just by watching the sunlight slowly fade as they go deeper and deeper through the crowded trees. She even noticed a few stones that looked like crumbled pieces of a building scattered around the pathway. Even a few trees had a few marks from either a sword, or a claw from a monster. One piece after another till the path gradually grew to more crumbled pieces the more they continued on until they finally came to the entrance of the city.

Around the outside looked to be a stone wall, or what used to be since it had fallen apart from the battle and had been left to rot away. There was no way to hide the place any longer, except for the trees. Only a broken gate was left of what was used as protection from the monsters. The place was massive, big enough that they could see at least ten, or twenty destroyed houses around the front. It looked like over the two decades like Shadow said, some houses were down letting the earth consume the rubble and whatever was around, and inside. Broken pieces of history scattered across the dirt path making it minor tough to continue without stepping over and possibly trip. Stone pillars lined the street all the way down to the castle entrance with a few that were destroyed, barely standing straight again. It's a miracle that so many trees could create a barrier to hide this abandoned kingdom.

Amy slowly walked over to one of the nearest houses with Shadow close behind her. She peered in through one of the windows that wasn't destroyed and saw what looked to be a normal house, but with a large gaping hole in the back where a wall would be and the furniture all toppled over, and/or destroyed. Again, she could see that several parts of the room had scratch marks from a monster. She could even see what looked to be light brown stains on the walls, and or objects. Possibly dried blood.

She shivered at the thought of how the people in these houses must've dealt with. "This place..." she started now turning around to look at her traveling partner, "Were they prepared at all...?" Her voice was quite as if she was sad for so many lives that had been taken that very day.

Shadow slowly shook his head while crossing his arms. "Sometimes you are not prepared." he answered with now emotion in his word, but he did have a little hint of sadness in his eyes.

Amy lowered her head and closed her eyes. She gave a silent prayer to those who are possibly buried underneath them both. She wished that they were able to at least be ready so they could've saved many more lives, but sometimes fate had other ways to ruin others lives. She slowly opened her eyes and looked up at the knight. "How do you know about this? Is it something you learned in school?" she asked.

He slowly looked away at one of the other closer houses that was equally demolished over time. "Celedane is well known about this place, but were strictly forbidden to set foot on this land. Monsters littered the forest so if they want to find this place, they can either come out alive, or no longer see the light of day again." She once again shivered at the sound of 'monsters'.

"...You've been here before like you said. Why?" she asked while tilting her head a bit.

Shadow said nothing. His stone like face was still there, but Amy could see that he was hiding something. Something about this place was somehow connected to him. She didn't want to pry again since she might not get anything out of it, but she did want to know why this place might've been so important that he would come here enough to know where it was. "...Alright. I won't say anything. But I want you to know that you can tell me anything that might be bothering you." she assured him after stepping up to the knight and placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.

He looked back to her, staring into her eyes of such innocence. She really wanted to help, but inside, he was actually nervous about telling her exactly why he would always return at certain times. He shook his head and also her hand once he shrugged his shoulder. "I'm fine, Rose. I don't need you to be upset about me. Now let's find the first element so we can leave." he grumbled as he started walking on down the street with his eyes and ears open for anything abnormal.

Amy was a little upset that he had pushed her away, yet she knew he would be like this. But she wished he could open up more to her. Deciding that he wasn't gonna spill, she started on her way down the path he had took, but went to the other side of the street. It looked like there have been twenty houses on her side, so it might've been the same on Shadow's side. Tho, there was only ten, or nine houses still standing up while the rest had fallen over time, or was destroyed in the battle. Each house Amy looked at had the same look like the other ones. Broken furniture, and dishes, old rotting wood, etc. It was even worse to see that there were children beds and toys in some of the houses, which made the poor girl sad for those young innocent lives either killed, or hopefully ran away with their families. While Amy was searching on her side, Shadow was doing the same thing while keeping an eye for any sign of life. Human, or monster, and they both hoped it wasn't the last one.

One house caught Amy's attention. It was probably the last house that was still standing, a two story house with one wall caved in so she could walk in easily after stepping over the broken pieces of wood and stone. She didn't know why, but something was urging her to go forward. To check that house instead of just looking through and skip it. She made her way over to it and looked through the gaping hole. She was still cautious every time she looked inside in case anything pops out. Like almost everyone, she hated being scared of a pop up and now was not a good time for something to scare her. Inside the house was the first floor which had the living room on one side near the back, and to the front of the house was a kitchen. Same thing, furniture and kitchenware all broken and rotting.

On the top floor was a loft with stairs on the other side of the gaping wall leading up to it. Amy nodded to herself feeling determined to venture inside, she still had a weird feeling that was telling her to explore this very home. It looked like any normal house, but something about it was different. Stepping inside, Amy moved her way around the broken pieces of the house and everything that was in it till she stopped at the bottom of the stairs. She looked up at the steps to check if the wood had rotted up so much that her weight might break through with one step. There was a wooden railing right beside it to help her, but even that could give way. She decided to just try it and see what the top floor had to offer.

She took each step with caution and kept a good grip on the railing. The wood was very rotted so she was also careful to not get splinters while venturing up the stairs. Each time she stepped, it made a loud 'creak', which sent chills up her spine forcing her to stay still for a few seconds before carrying on. Amy, thankfully, got up to the last step and had to let out a heavy breath she was holding while walking up the small staircase. _'This is why I never go searching through old and abandoned places...' _she thought to herself.

After taking a few seconds to breathe and to make sure her heat was now beating at a normal pace, she looked up to see that the loft was a bedroom. A bed fit for two was by the wall in a corner, along with a small crib made of wood. A wardrobe was by the wall on the other side that might've been filled with clothes, and a table was right beside the bed right across from her, and under the only window that was in the bedroom. Amy stepped closer to the table seeing that there were pictures of possibly the family that lived here. But what caught her attention was a bow and arrow, lying on the top of it besides the pictures. She stopped right in front of the table and carefully picked up the quiver that held at least five arrows.

She had never seen such craftsmanship. The quiver was a very nicely made holder with what looked to be an intricate and somewhat celtic design sewn onto the tough fabric. Even the bow was well made with the hardest wood to use so it wouldn't break. Somehow, this weapon didn't look like it had rot, or even aged at all. It almost looked...new. Amy placed the quiver down, then looked up at the pictures. There were four of them, an elder male hedgehog in one picture, another was an elder female hedgehog. The third one had a knight in the picture. The knight was a silver metal wearing hedgehog that had a bit of his fur showing on his arms, legs, and his jagged quills. His fur was a good shade of black with a bit of red on the tips of his quills. The knight looked oddly familiar to the young girl, but she didn't know why, or where she might've seen him.

The last one was a picture of a family of three that were standing right in front of the house she was in. Must've been taken before the battle since the house looked more better than it did now. Amy carefully gripped the side of the frame and lifted it up to see it more closely. The male was a hedgehog, black fur, orange-ish fur on his muzzle and a bit of his stomach showing under his dark green tunic, jagged black quills with tiny red tips. His eyes were a deep shade of red, now visible without the helmet he was wearing in the other picture. The male might've been the knight that was living here, and beside him was possibly his wife. He was holding her closely while smiling down at her.

The female was a white furred hedgehog with orange colored eyes looking every so lovingly down at a small bundle in her arms. Her quills were longer and were tied in a low ponytail with a small tie wrapped around just a few inches above the tips. She wore a light gray dress with a dark blue corset wrapped tightly around her waist and tied up from bottom to the top with black string. The last was a small baby hoglet wrapped in a light blue blanket, his head was out of it and looking up at the camera. His fur was black and his quills were so tiny with a little red on his quills, just the tips. His furry muzzle was the same color as his father, and eyes were also the same. That baby looked so much like...like...

"...Shadow? Shadow's...mom...and dad...?" Amy gasped almost dropping the frame once she realized who the house belonged to, and why the knight looked so familiar. "...So that means...Shadow was born...here?"

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted when all of a sudden, her chest began to glow brightly from under her shirt. That also almost made her drop the picture since it was possibly the second time the stone had glowed again, but for a good reason. Amy placed the picture back onto the table and quickly slipped her hand in her shirt to take out the Stone of Ages. She knew she needed to keep it hidden, but she remembered what Madam Vulga had said about why the stone was glowing. After taking it out, it began to glow a brilliant yellow light resembling the first element they were searching. Light. "So the first element is here! I gotta find Shadow!" she instructed not even caring if she was talking to herself.

She gripped the stone tightly and turned around to head back down the stairs, but she stopped herself from leaving. She slowly turned her head back around to the bow and arrows still lying on the table. She knew it wasn't right to steal from the dead, but she might need the arrows sometime in the future. She can't protect herself if Shadow isn't around and she doesn't know hand-to-hand combat. All she can do now is archery after getting lessons from her gym teacher years past. She looked back at the picture of the three and said in a hushed tone, "I'm really sorry..I need this, but I'll take good care of it." She knew she wouldn't get a response, but just telling them out loud helped her ease a bit of guilt from her conscious. Amy picked up the quiver first, then slung it over her shoulder, tying the strap over that shoulder, and under the other in a tight knot. Then picked up the bow and wrapped it around her other shoulder. She was ready for battle again, but with only five arrows, she'll need to use them sparingly.

With one last look of the picture, a picture that she wanted to take with her, but knew it wasn't right to take anything else, Amy turned around again, and made her way down the stairs, not even caring if she was running as fast as she can. Luckily they didn't break under her, but it almost felt like they would with another stomp of her feet. While gripping the bow with one hand and the stone in the other, she made her way out of the house and down the path she had taken to find Shadow first, then find the first element. With many questions in her mind ready to be asked once she gets a good time after all this.

**I swear to god, I was so pissed when I was halfway through, about 3,000 words, and all of a sudden, this fucking site needed my password. I had to rewrite it all and then some...I hate it when that happens... Make sure that when you are good, copy the work you did before you press "save". Works for me, but I sadly forgot this time and I hate it... But otherwise, what a twist, huh? I may have rushed a few parts, but hope it's okay at least? Thank you!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey, I'm back. And I want to say thank you to CrankshaftRabbit for their advice. I'll try that since FF likes to troll you into thinking they're saving the story, but you'd have to sign in only to see it deleted everything... But really, thank you for the advice. ;D I will try that! Also, thank you BlackButler181 for reviewing my story as well. HUGS! Everyone be safe out there!**

**Chapter 5. The First Element.**

Shadow was finished with his search and was now on the other side looking for Amy. He knew where he was going since he had been here several times, but looking for a girl in this pile of rubble would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. He was grateful tho that they separated. He didn't want to explain why he would come here at times. In truth, he barely remembered the place at all, but it was still his first home to him. He never went to his birth house since he didn't really feel like finding anything of his. It would only be his baby toys and clothes, but his second home had some of the things that were from here. He would only come back occasionally to mourn for his parents loss, his parents he barely knew, but had died saving his life.

If only he could tell Amy the real reason why he would come here often, but bringing up a past that is too hard to get through isn't very easy. She knew how hard it was to lose those that cared for you, but he was still too stubborn to say anything else to her. Shadow stepped over another piece of broken history as he continued walking around, looking around to find any sign of pink anywhere. He quietly growled to himself feeling a bit impatient that she would make him wait and find her. Why was this girl so hard to understand? Speaking of which, he heard his voice being called out from behind him. It was loud, but a little soft so she didn't attract any unwanted monsters.

Shadow turned around to see Amy running towards him with a worried look on her face. He sighed to himself feeling a little relief that she was still alive and walking, but also feeling very annoyed with her. "Finally. Where the hell have you-" he stopped himself when he noticed that she was clutching her chest where the stone was hidden inside her shirt. He could tell from afar that it was glowing brightly, even though she was trying to hide it. "The stone..!"

"Shadow! The stone...! The stone...is glowing!" Amy shouted with each breath she took. She slid to a stop in front of him and quickly took out the stone having it glow more brightly now that it was finally out of hiding. "I think...the element is close by...!"

His features turned serious knowing that they were getting closer to the element. "Madam Vulga said you can find them. You need to read the spell that shows were the light element is." he instructed now looking at her intently.

Amy nodded quickly and looked down at the glowing stone. It was kinda hard to see where the words she needed to read since the light was very bright still. "I...I can't read it..! It's not showing anything, and it's too bright to find any words..!" she said in a less hopeful voice while looking back up at him.

He growled under his breath. "Alright..we know the element is close by, but no sign anywhere in these houses. Let's go to castle." he instructed again now turning his attention towards the three story building that looked ready to crumble at any moment.

She looked at the castle with him now looking more worried. "There might be thousands of rooms inside! How will we be able to find them?" she asked looking back at him. He looked back at her with no emotion in his tone.

"No time. Let's go." he turned away and proceeded to run down the the crumbled pathway towards the castle leaving the worried girl alone again.

"Hey! Shadow! Wait!" she called out to him after kicking off a heel to run after him, "We're supposed to stay together!" The knight said no word to her as they both ran right through the open doors that were blown away from a past monster attack.

The castle was like the one Amy had been in when she woke up, but it was a little smaller. The ceiling in the great hall, was in an arch way like a chapel ceiling with only one hanging lantern since the other one like it was on the stone floor, crumbled up into small pieces. The sides had some tattered flags with the kingdom's symbol on them and three arched glass windows on each side of the halls with a few that were shattered. Four columns stood tall on each side of the room with only three that were crumbled down so only a few were barley holding up the building. On the end was a large staircase that had two sets on each side, two doors that lead to possibly stairs or another hallway with two more on the bottom floor leading to the basement.

Shadow stopped himself after reaching the middle of the great hall. Amy was quick to stop herself before she would run into him. "What is it..? Why did...you stop?" she asked between huffs of air after her fast run.

He didn't say anything, but raised a hand to her without looking back. He held up a finger to silence her while twisting his ears back and forth trying to pick up any sort of sound. Amy kept her mouth shut for him this time. She did took the few seconds they had to look around the room at the interior designs it might've looked before the fight. It wasn't big, it she could tell it might've been amazing back then. Her wrist was suddenly gripped by the knight's causing her to gasp as she was pulled with him towards the grand staircase.

Amy stumbled a bit once Shadow tugged her along, but was quick enough to catch herself before she fell to her knees. She looked up watching him draw out his sword to fight as they rush right under the stairs and through one of the broken down doors leading to the basement. "Shadow! Where are we going?" she gasped.

"I can hear sounds from the bottom floor...! We might be close, is the stone glowing still?" he asked without looking back.

She looked down at her chest seeing the color of her shirt glowing brightly like before. "Yes..it's still glowing...!"

"Good, then that means we're getting close...!" All the way down the spiral steps using what little light they had from the top till they reached the bottom floor. There was only darkness that surrounded the two making it more difficult to continue further. Amy kept a strong grip on Shadow's hand as they reached the bottom floor. Shadow had been into the castle a couple times before, so he knew what was there. But he'll keep himself slow and steady for Amy. Altho, when they were reaching the bottom of the stairs, he could sense something was off. He felt it before when Amy was being attacked by the were-cat. There could be danger around.

Once they reached the basement floor, Shadow stopped himself from going any further having Amy run into him and give him a slight push. "Oof! What the-Shadow!" Amy shouted angrily, but was cut off when the said knight pulled his hand out of her's and lightly slapped it onto her mouth, closing it shut.

He said nothing, but even in the dark, she could feel the angry glare that was burning through her head once he turned around to silently hush her. He slowly moved his hand off of her mouth letting her breathe a quiet sigh from her short run. It was very dark enough that none of them could see each other. Hell, Shadow blended into the darkness very well because of his fur color. No movement at all which started to make the girl a little worried. The darkness was one thing, but the silence was much worse when combined. She began to hear slight ruffling like fabric being moved a little. Amy tried to force her eyes to get used to the darkness, but she was still unable to see anything in front of her. Until..

A warm light began to glow from Shadow's hand as it grew and grew till at least both hedgehogs and a little of the room was visible to them. Amy gasped at the bright yellow crystal clutched tightly in the knight's hand. "That...That...rock...it's glowing...!" she gaped, completely entranced by the magic of some odd stone.

Shadow turned around to face her still holding the crystal in hand. "Don't you remember what I had told you before? There are many types of magic crystals? I was gifted with this from the king before we left." he lifted up the crystal to show her what it looked like since he remembered that she really wanted to see a real elemental crystal.

Amy's eyes gleamed at the magic filled stone. It was just like any ordinary crystal when it's not activated, but way it glowed, it looked so out of the ordinary. She had seen rocks that glowed from some stores that sold ancient stones, and other asian cultured items. They glowed, but only used a lightbulb powered by a cable. "How pretty.." she awed as she reached up to touch it after wondering how it felt like once it was being activated.

The knight took his hand away once he saw her reach out towards it. "Rose, no. You don't know how to use it and if I give you the crystal, the light will dim. You'll waste the power that's inside it." he warned her. She rolled her eyes and took her hand back before crossing both arms.

"I just wanted to see if it's hot, or cold." she complained.

"It's cold." he said in a low, monotone voice. Before Amy could retort, he turned around again and started to slow make his way through the hallway.

Amy glared at the back of his head and grumbled under her breath while she rushed over to his side so she wouldn't lose him in the dark. As usual, Shadow was being his annoying self. She wondered how he could be so cold to her one second, then turn his mood around and be nice to her the next. Remembering the picture of his family, she also wondered if he even had a happy childhood before the war happened. She had so many questions for him that she couldn't keep herself from talking any longer. Even if she needed to keep herself quiet for Shadow to hear any sort of danger.

As they continued on, the room was able to show what looked to be a dungeon. At least five open cells were on one side of the hallway were caged up. A couple were broken down though. Some cells had chains bolted into the wall to hang someone up by their hands, along with wooden beds bolted to the wall and hanging on air. The sounds of rats scurrying away from the light of the crystal continued to send shivers up Amy's spine as the two continued. "Shadow...I don't think there's anyone in here..." Amy shivered looking up a the knight.

Shadow kept his eyes on the path ahead of them as the light slowly reached the end of the hallway showing a door leading to possibly more cells. "I know. There's one last room at the end of this hallway. If we don't find anything, we'll look upstairs." he instructed.

"But you said you heard some sounds down here. You think it might be from the rats?" Amy asked.

"Probably..but I'm still sensing that we're not alone.." before he could continue, the two stopped at the said door ready to open it up to search the next room. The sounds of rocks skipping across the stone floors and chains being rattled stopped Shadow's hand from gripping the door knob. The sounds were faint, but it was enough to get both of them on edge. He looked up at the door realizing that something, or someone was behind it. He turned back to Amy, who was giving him a terrified look back. "Whatever happens...do not turn your back on the enemy.." he whispered with a strict tone in his voice.

Amy gulped up a large lump in her throat and nodded slowly. Once Shadow turned his back to her, she twirled the bow around and took out one of the arrows to hold in a threatening way. Even though she was very scared right now, she didn't want to let Shadow fight and get hurt like last time. So she'll do her best to stand up for herself to show him that she can fight in situations if she tried. Once Shadow positioned himself after placing the crystal in his pouch turning off the power inside, he gripped both his sword in one hand, and turned the knob with the other. Then threw open the door to face whatever was inside. Once again, the room was very dark, but now the sounds of low, monstrous growls flooded the large room.

Quickly pulling out the crystal from his pack, Shadow held it out and igniting the power inside, illuminating the room from the door to half of it. Immediately, both Shadow and Amy saw white eyes stair directly at them as they scurried away from the source of light. Amy gasped in horror to see that it looked to be spirits haunting to room they were in. The shadow spirits from the looks of it, were tall, skinny and very slender. Their bodies were long enough for their heads to almost reach the ceiling, no legs, or feet. Just a sharp point at the end like a long tail. Their arms were very long, the size of their bodies with four long fingers, about three feet each. Their finger tips looked sharp like claws, ready to rip apart their prey easily.

"Sh-Sh-Shadow...!" she quivered at the sight of the new monsters that were now surrounding the light not even daring to get close enough.

"Rose, get back! Night Crawlers are not to be dealt with!" Shadow shouted almost pushing her away to shut the door, but before he did, Amy pushed him forward stopping him from closing the only thing thats keeping the monsters inside. He looked back at her with a piercing glare. "Rose, I said-"

"Look!" Amy's arm was stretched out in front of her and her finger was pointing directly at the monsters, but that wasn't what she was pointing at.

Shadow turned back to the growling night crawlers wanting desperately to get near the two. He followed the trail that her eyes and finger were showing him, which had lead them to who they were possibly searching for. The light didn't show much, but from across the room, a figure was lying on the floor with a very dim, flashing light crystal beside them. He hadn't even realized that the monsters were not the only things that were trapped in the room. A prisoner was inside, possibly one of Scourge's victims and hopefully the element they were looking for. The crystal beside the unconscious person was barely showing any sign of power and was the only thing keeping them alive from the killing spirits.

"Damn it..! Good eye, Rose. I'll handle the night crawlers, you get yourself over to them and see if they're still alive!" he shouted now stepping into the room into battle. He began to wave the crystal back and forth scaring away the monsters as they cowered in fear from the hellish glow. Amy was still in fear of the spirits, but did as she was told and quickly rushed past Shadow and over towards the figure. He was right beside her the whole time as she ran, keeping the night crawlers away. The crystal had plenty of power inside, but it's not enough to vanquish the spirits to death. He needed more power to get them out of the dungeons.

Amy quickly dropped to her knees by the figure as the light started to show who was lying in front of her now. The figure was a brown furred wolf girl with tattered fur and messy blond hair. The wolf must've been a hybrid because of the dirty white angel wings she had on her back that looked all scuffed up. She wore a light gray dress, her skirt was cut so it was short in the front and longer in the back that reached her ankles. Her top was cut in a V-neck and had long puffy sleeves cuffed at her elbows. Black tight pants that looked like leggings with black knee high boots. A thick, brown belt was wrapped around her waist with a side satchel clutched to the belt.

She looked so battered up that the monsters must've got to her first and she had the light crystal to help her for a while. Amy gripped the side of the wolf and carefully pulled her, rolling her around so she was now laying on her back. "Hey! Hey, miss? Miss!" Amy called out to her, but the only response she got was a painful groan.

"The crystal won't hold them back for long! Night crawlers won't stop until their victim is dead!" Shadow shouted as he swung the crystal again scaring away a couple of the spirits that had tried to get closer to him.

"She's alive, but she's not waking up!" Amy cried out not even sure what to do in this situation.

Shadow knew that these monsters will stop at nothing to get to them, but there was no other choice in the matter. He continued to hold the crystal as he backed away towards Amy while looking back to see where he was going. He dropped to her side and held out the crystal to her. "Hold it..! I'll carry her, but we need to get out of the dungeon!" he told her. Amy quickly shook her head as tears began to slowly prick at the corner of her eyes.

"I can't! I'm scared! I thought I can handle this but I can't!" she cried staring at him in fear. She didn't know if she could fight these things, but now she wasn't sure if she could hold a magic crystal and use it's powers since she was not even used to it.

His eyes slightly widened as a flash of the past appeared right in front of him. The site was a familiar figure, a blond princess was staring at him with utter fear like Amy's. After a quick blink, Amy was right in front of him again. He was stunned for words as to why he had suddenly brought part of his horrible past back at this moment. Right now, he shouldn't be thinking about that at all. He needed to focus on the mission, and he didn't want Amy to be scared this time. He placed his sword down and with a gentle grip on her hand once he reached up and took it, he placed the crystal in her hand. He still gripped it so the light was flashing brightly. Amy could easily feel the power emitting from the stone in her hands, enough that it felt like it was energizing to her.

"Rose..listen. I know you're scared. But right now, you need to be brave. Don't think of the problem right now. Think of the power inside the crystal. The power will listen to the holder. That is you. You need to focus on the power inside. Think of the light from the sun, the light from a candle, anything that shines brightly." Shadow's voice was surprisingly calm and gentle. It was very surprising to see him be this way towards her again, but the way he was teaching and comforting her, slowly eased the fear from her eyes and body.

Amy was still afraid, but with Shadow beside her, she felt that she might be able to handle the toughest fights. She wanted to show him how she was capable of fighting, and this was possibly the right time. Without even realizing it, Shadow had taken his hand off the crystal making it slowly dim now that a new user had barely enough to keep it going. The monsters were now inching closer and closer to the three as the light grew dimmer and dimmer. Shadow quickly gripped his sword tightly and got up to attack the night crawlers if he had to. As spirits, he would't be able to land a punch, or swipe of his sword at them, but to keep both Amy and the mystery girl alive, he'll do whatever he can to keep them alive.

Amy's eyes were closed and her mind was focusing on the crystal's magic. She knew she didn't have any time at all, but she needed to concentrate. The way the sun's rays shined down on earth, giving light to the living and plants to help them grow. The light of a warm fireplace on a cold, winter's night. The moons light's brilliantly glowing to shine across the rivers and mountains as the wolves howled into the night. The light of a home with her parents giving her warm hugs and love. Amy's mind was now connected to the power of the crystal in her hand, she could feel the abilities inside growing stronger and stronger with each thought she had.

Before the night crawlers could get any closer, enough for one of them to reach out towards the sword, welding knight. The crystal began to grow brighter and brighter making them scurry away from the three. Shadow turned around to face her. He was very impressed on how fast she had used the power inside the stone to make it glow like that. It took him several weeks for him to learn how to harness the power inside the crystals, but with Amy, her energy must've been more stronger than his.

Amy's eyes slowly opened as the glow of the light had her emerald eyes sparkle. The crystal was glowing in her hand, the light was bright and beautiful. Her eyes widened at the sight before her, completely out of words to how she was able to make a magical stone glow. The angered sounds of the monsters in front of the three brought her out of her thoughts having her look up and turn to see Shadow was on the other side of her body. He was now holding the unconscious girl in his arms in a bridal style. Shadow looked at her with the same surprised look, but he hid it behind his stoic expression. "Come on! Lead us out of here!" he shouted.

She nodded and got up onto her feet. While holding the crystal tightly in her hand, she began to wave it around like how Shadow did to ward off the monsters while guiding both of them through the room. They creeped along the walls practically hugging the hard surface while keeping a close eye on the night crawlers. They were now more angry than before. Watching their prey was being taken away from them and forced to stand away from the killing light. The crystal had barely enough power now to ward them off, but enough for the two to leave the room safely. Once the two slipped right through the open doorway, they both rushed out into the hallway as the night crawlers were now giving chase. Roaring and screeching in rage so loud, they made the walls rumble. Causing the poor pink girl to shriek in fear.

Amy was trying her hardest to keep the crystal glowing and helping both her and Shadow leave the darkened hallway, but the sounds of the monsters was beginning to grow increasingly hard for her to continue on. She let out another shriek as the walls began to rumble again from the screeching spirts behind them, forcing her body to stop running and almost having the knight behind her run into her back. "Rose, keep going!" Shadow urged, but she was too scared to continue.

"I-I can't! I'm scared!" she cried now looking back at him with fresh tears streaming down her face.

The monsters were getting closer and closer now that the light of the crystal was beginning to dim. Amy's thoughts were now easily erased from fear, causing the crystal to lose power. Shadow looked behind him to see the spirits flying closer towards them. Their large claw-like hands were now digging into the floor and walls, causing a nasty screeching sound when their nails dug and scratched the hard surfaces. He had no choice, but to act fast. Luckily beside them, one of the cells had the bars broken off. Shadow gripped the girl tightly with one arm around her back and with the other, grabbed Amy's hand and pulled them both into the cell. Amy shrieked again feeling a hard pull before her body landed on the stone floor. In a quick swipe, Shadow carefully dropped the girl to the floor and picked up the stone after it fell out of Amy's hand once she fell to the floor.

He held it up to the doorway of the cell and forced the dimly lit light to grow brighter again with what little magic it still had. The night crawlers were so close to reaching them before Shadow had just enough time to pull them away to safety. They screeched in fear, backing away from the horrid light as they scrambled away from the open cell. They were very close by, but not even dare get any close to the light again. Dropping to his knees, Shadow sat down on the floor while holding the crystal so the light was still glowing. Amy was now sitting up as well on her knees, she was quietly huffing and puffing from both the run and fear. She looked over to the quietly panting knight, who was watching the doorway of their cell. Keeping an eye on the monsters in front of them.

"...Sh-Shadow...?" she spoke up in a quiet whimper. He said nothing, but she noticed his ears twist a bit so their facing her allowing her to continue, "...I...I'm sorry...I tried...and I f-failed.."

"No... You did good, Rose.." He replied quietly, "...You knew how dangerous this will be.."

Amy slowly nodded and lowered her head now looking down at her knees. "I know..I'm trying to be brave...I hate being weak, I wanted to show you that..I can be strong.." The knight quietly sighed, then slowly turned to her.

"Your not weak, Rose. You're just not used to this world like I am. You will get more better in time, but...just keep yourself calm and don't let fear get to you." he instructed. He honestly didn't like seeing her this way, but wasn't really sure how to comfort her at all.

She said nothing, but slowly nodded again. Her eyes lowered down a bit more to her shirt before her eyes widened again. "Shadow!" she gasped looking back up at him. Shadow slightly jumped when she shouted, fearing that she might've been hurt somehow since she was now clutching her chest.

"What is it? Are you hurt?" he asked.

"The stone! It's not glowing anymore!" Both of them were now silent.

They never realized when they entered the room, but when Amy got close enough to the girl, the stone suddenly stopped glowing. They were too preoccupied with the night crawlers that none of them noticed that the glow had stopped. Did that mean...? Both Amy and Shadow looked at the still unconscious girl, then back to each other. Practically thinking the same thing. "...You think..she..." Amy whispered.

Shadow said nothing, but he gave her a slow nod, telling her that she might be the element they were looking for. Amy twisted her body around and slowly crawled over to the girl. She wasn't able to get her to wake up before, but she hoped the wolf will wake this time. She really looked banged up so they'll need to patch her up when they get out. "Hey..? Hey, wake up. Please..." she called out while gently shaking her after gripping her shoulder carefully, "Please...get up, please...!"

"...Unn.." both hedgehogs' eyes widened once they heard the girl groan in her sleep. Amy continued to shake her, gently, but enough to hopefully get her to wake up more. The wolf was slowly, but surely able to bring herself out of her unconscious state. Her eyelids began to slowly open showing tired, light blue irises, looking from one side to the other till they landed on the fuzzy pink blob. Her vision was pretty fuzzy, but in a few seconds, they were slowly going back to normal. "...Wh-who...are you...?" she asked in a weak tone.

Amy's heart skipped a beat once the poor girl finally woke up. She couldn't help herself, but smile happily for her. "Thank god you're okay..! We're here to help you, so you don't have to be afraid anymore!" she replied happily.

The wolf girl was still a little worried at the fact that some girl was standing over her when she was practically alone for a long time, not to mention that she had to deal with the monsters for a while so it was more difficult to even comprehend "okay". "Wait..! The monsters!" she gasped, forcing herself to sit up and turn around to see if they were around, or attacking. Her body hurt like hell when she sat up, but she was more concerned about the night crawlers.

"Whoa! Whoa! Take it easy! They're not going to attack us right now...!" Amy reassured her while waving her hands back and forth, "Shadow is keeping them away from us, so we're safe for now."

"Sh-Shadow..?" the wolf repeated before turning around fully to see the said knight, who was still sitting by the door, but was watching and listening while keeping the crystal shinning as much as he can. Her eyes widened and quickly got up so she was sitting on her knees. Her hands were on the floor and her body hunched slightly forward in a bowing motion, "Sir Shadow..it's an honor to meet the great black knight. Thank you so much for you and your friend's help in my rescue."

Shadow slightly blushed at her generous greeting, but hid it very well, nodding his head slightly for her answer. "Your welcome, miss..?" The girl pulled herself up and smiled at the two sweetly, but still weakly since she was still hurting inside.

"My name is Alicia." she answered.

Amy smiled and nodded. "My name is Amy Rose. I guess you know very well about Shadow then?" she asked now more interested in how popular Shadow really was.

The wolf, Alicia turned to her and nodded quickly. "My kingdom where I'm from has heard of his bravery and many fights he has been though. He's very well known throughout the world." she answered truthfully.

Shadow had to turn his head away since he wasn't really used to people talking about him like that. He never liked the praises he would get sometimes, but tries his best to show how courteous he was towards them. "I'm not that special, but I do try my best to keep the world and my kingdom safe." he pointed out in a gruff kind of tone.

"They also say you are very mysterious because of your expressionless look." Alicia pointed out with a small giggle seeing that the rumors were true about how stoic Shadow is right now, "But I want to thank you so much for rescuing me. I don't know how you two have found me, but I'm deeply in your depts." She bowed again to both Shadow and Amy, which made the pink girl blush completely.

"W-Well...there's something that you can do for us.." Amy suggested making the wolf girl look back up at her, "You see..we did come to save you, but Shadow and I are on a mission to find special people with an elemental power."

"Elemental power? You mean like the chosen six who helped the hero vanquish the evil king?"

Shadow quickly joined in seeing that she had heard about the legend. "So you do know about the elements? We're here to see about if you are one of the elements we have been looking for." he looked up at Amy, who was now clutching the stone, still hidden under her shirt, "Amy has been gifted the power to seek the elements and with all six chosen people, we'll defeat King Scourge and take back our wold. He has taken many prisoners, but at least five of them, counting you, possibly."

Alicia listened deeply, but inside, she was contemplating if they truly believe that she was one of the elements. She had heard about them growing up and even heard that one of the elements was from her kingdom, but she didn't think it was actually her. ...Is she, tho? "I'm sorry..I'm not quite sure if I understand. I have been taken prisoner, but I'm not sure if I'm one of the elements. I don't have that kind of power inside...well...except that I can heal." she pointed out while looking down with embarrassment.

Amy's eyes widened, "You can heal? That's fantastic!" she chirped, "That might make it so much easier if you might be the element of light!" The wolf looked back up at her.

"Light?" Amy nodded. "But...I don't...I mean...my kingdom is home to those who create the crystals of light.."

"So that's why you had a crystal in your possession." Shadow asked having her nod to him.

"That's right. But when I was taken here by force, I hid the crystal so those monsters that brought me here wouldn't take it. I thought I could escape, but when those...night crawlers...came, I had no choice but to use it. I tried my hardest to escape from that room, but each time I have tried to leave, those monsters would attack me. My crystal wasn't able to hold them off like yours so..that's why I'm covered in cuts and bruises.."

Amy's ears slightly drooped down hearing how she was taken and left for dead. "I'm sorry...I wish we came sooner. But if you were the element of light, then you'll be able to defeat the monsters easily."

"I'm not sure if I am the element you seek! I'm not gifted like you, or strong like Sir Shadow!" Alicia shouted making Amy jump slightly, "...I just...I just want to go back home...to grandfather..."

"Grandfather...?" The wolf nodded. Amy quietly sighed seeing how scared this girl was like her. But more since she wasn't able to keep her hopes up. She looked back at Shadow, who gave her a small, sympathetic look back. "Alicia..." she started and looked back to her, she reached over and gripped her shoulder gently bringing the girl's head up to meet her eyes with her teary ones, "I know you're scared. I am, too. But...we can't lose ourselves like this. Shadow has kept me going for this long. Now I want to help you. You miss your grandfather, right?"

Alicia slowly nodded while wiping away some tears. "Very much.."

Amy smiled a soft, reassuring smile to her. "Then think of him the whole way. Don't think of yourself as weak, because you're not. You are strong, and you can handle this. You handled staying alive for this long, so you are strong to continue to fight. I promise you, Shadow and I will not leave your side at all and we will help you out of this. But only if you trust us."

The angel wolf stared at her with fear still in her eyes, but part of her was beginning to grow a little more stronger, just from the comforting way Amy was giving her. She was very scared at this point and thinking that there might not be a way out of this, but seeing how strong this normal girl was being for her. Shadow was the strongest in the group, but this girl, Alicia can sense something inside of her, strong and fearless. If she could see her grandfather right now, he would scold her for being so scared and weak. He wanted his granddaughter to be brave and succeed in her hardships. With Amy here giving her the boost she needed, she slowly began to feel a bit more braver to help her new friend. She was scared still, but wanted to show that she can try once more as long as she doesn't loose hope like she had almost done.

She gave her a small smile and a slight nod with no words needed, but enough to at least show that she was ready to help Amy and Shadow with whatever they needed to escape. Amy's smile grew bigger once she saw her smile and nod, then leaned in and gave her a small, but genuine hug. The wolf girl was very surprised and even flinched when she hugged her. But slowly, she wrapped her arms around Amy and returned the hug back, closing her eyes and relaxing in the embrace. Feeling safe for once after her captivity. Shadow was very surprised, and very amused at how quick Alicia was to agree with Amy. It was only words she had spoken, but the way Amy was speaking to her, it sounded strong, and courageous. Amy was beginning to show more and more of her strong side to him than she even realized. Tho, she does get scared very easily, but seeing how she was trying for this girl, was enough to bring a small smile to the knight's muzzle. A very small smile, but it showed that he had a little more trust in the pink girl.

Suddenly, the loud screeching of the night crawlers had quickly brought all three out of their small conversation, making them look up at the doorway to see the monsters slowly inching towards the cell. To Shadow's shock, the crystal in his hand began to slowly dim. The power inside had been used up and it was slowly dying on them. "Damn! We have no time left..!" Shadow huffed now inching away from the door towards the two. He slipped out his sword ready to use when the light completely goes out.

"You can't use your sword on them! I'll go right through!" Alicia shouted now making her fears grow once she noticed the light crystal was fading fast and the night crawlers were slowly coming towards them.

Shadow looked over his shoulder at her with a small glare. "You don't think I know that? We have no other choice!" he growled. He didn't mean to, but in this situation, he couldn't help, but show a bit of anger in his voice.

"We do have a choice!" Amy interjected having the two look at her confusingly. She looked at Alicia and gripped her shoulder a bit tightly as she continued, "I'm going to see if you are the element of light we have been looking for, but you have to trust me."

Alicia stared at her with wide, fearful eyes. She wanted to say yes, but now that the pressure was getting too great, she was afraid to say anything. Shadow got up on his feet and stood in a threatening pose with his sword out, watching the night crawlers now getting very close to the doorway. "Rose, anytime now!" he shouted.

"I know, just gimme a minute!" Amy retorted back, glaring at the back of his head, then looked back at Alicia replacing the angered look to a soft smile again, "It'll be okay. You are not alone now, you can do this."

The wolf continued to stare at her for a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity to both Amy and Shadow. He was pretty pissed that she was keeping them waiting, but Amy wasn't angry. She was scared, but continued to give Alicia her comforting smile, hoping and praying that she'll turn around and agree with her. And she did. Alicia said nothing again, and nodded slowly. Amy's smile stayed while she moved her free hand to her chest and slipped out the stone making the wolf girl's eyes slightly widened. She had heard about the Stone of Ages before, and had seen pictures of it in books, but never thought she would see it up close like this.

Amy held the jewel up so it was facing her. It wasn't glowing, but to her shock, words began to show only to her. Just like Madam Vulga had told her. Only she can read the words which will give the chosen person their new ability, which was rightfully Alicia. Keeping a strong grip on her shoulder while staring at the stone intently, Amy began to read off the words clearly, _"Light thy way, oh power! Give thy chosen hero energy to control the sun!" _

All of a sudden, the jewel began to glow brightly again, much more than before. The light of the jewel was able to ward off the monsters a bit, making them cower away from the cell once more. Shadow turned around when he noticed some rays of light from behind him, both he, Alicia, and Amy watched as the jewel began to shoot out the power of Light it had held for so long and seep right into Alicia's body. The wolf gasped loudly once she felt a powerful energy seep right through her chest, and all throughout her body, making her feel more powerful than before. She felt like the power of the sun was coursing through her body, helping her know what she can do with this new ability that has been gifted to her.

Once the jewel has stopped glowing, Amy stuffed it back into her shirt, then looked up at Alicia. The darkness began to swallow up the three now that the crystal had finally gave up the power inside. The night crawlers howled with excitement and ran into the cell, wanting so much to tear up their bodies limb from limb. Before they could even touch one of the heroes, another glow had sprouted out from the angel wolf herself this time. The demonic spirits, again, cowered in fear. Howling and screeching with both fear and anger. Alicia slowly stood up onto her feet, leaving Amy alone on the floor. Shadow watched as she past him in a graceful walk over to the open doorway, making the monsters back further and further away.

Alicia's eyes had turned from light blue to a golden color once she had begun to harness her new found power. She lifted up her arms, stretching them out and her balled fists pointing them directly at the night crawlers. With no words needed, her hands opened up creating a bigger and brighter storm of light, illuminating the room so much that it was completely filled with no sign of shadows anywhere. The night crawlers howled in pain as the new light surrounded them so there was no possible way to escape this time. Their bodies began to shrivel up as their screeching grew louder and louder. The shook in a violent way wanting to save themselves by clawing the floor and walls, desperately trying to break free and find any source of darkness. But their efforts were slowly coming to an end. Their bodies continued to violently shake and shrink till there was no sign of the night crawlers anymore once they're bodies puffed out of existence.

Both Amy and Shadow had watched the whole thing unfold with their eyes widened and mouths hung open. They both knew how powerful the elements were, but never thought it would be enough to make this sort of blast of power. Once the monsters were dead, Alicia created small orbs of light to help guide them out of the dungeon before she turned around and smiled at the two. She, too, was very surprised at how she could create such power in her attack. She didn't think her new abilities could make anything like that, but she was very thankful that she had saved them all from death.

"...How did I do..?" she asked still smiling widely.

Shadow was the first to speak after she had brought them both out of their stupor. He shook his head and gripped the side of it before replying, "You...that truly was impressive. Well done, Alicia."

Amy nodded quickly. "That was amazing! You are the element of Light! We knew you were when we found you! You were so incredible!" she cheered while rushing over to Alicia and engulfing her in a big hug.

She was very surprised at the sudden embrace, but was quick to return it feeling equally happy. "It seems that I'll truly return my debt to you two..." she chuckled weakly.

Before Amy could ask why she was feeling tired, Alicia immediately collapsed into her arms, bringing both girls down to the floor. "Whoa! Whoa!" she gasped as she tried to keep themselves up as much as she could, but the extra weight wasn't making it easy for her. Shadow was quick enough to rush over and grab the almost unconscious girl, then pulled her out of Amy's hold and into his arms like before in a bridal style. Amy let out a heavy breath once she was able to stand straight again, then looked up at both the knight and angel wolf. "Is she okay...?" she asked.

"She's fine. She's just unconscious again. Must've used up a lot of energy with her new found power." Shadow replied while staring at the sleeping girl in his arms.

Amy looked at her now looking and feeling worried for her. "She'll be okay, right?" she asked again after looking back at Shadow. He looked at her and nodded.

"Yes. She will be just fine. Right now, let's bring her outside and find a safer place to camp. I'm sure she'll have plenty of questions once she wakes up." With that, he carried her out of the cell and down the hall to the stairs.

Amy watched him leave the room before she followed closely behind him. She was thankful that Alicia had made small orbs of light to help them both get out safely. And was also happy that both their mission to find the first element was accomplished. She kept a good distance from him as they made their way out of the dungeon and back up to the first floor of the castle. All the while clutching the tight string that was connected to the bow that was safely wrapped around her shoulders again. She was surprised that Shadow hadn't even noticed that she was holding something that might've belonged to his father, but knew he might not have none since he was a baby in that picture. Coming back to that, Alicia won't be the only one asking questions.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys. Nothing much said, but I was very busy now that I'm having a harder time with my sister's wedding. Who knew wedding crafting would take this damn long and hard? It might be short, I dunno, but hope this is okay for you all. I'll do my best to get the other's out, but I'm also trying out a story request from JustThatOneFox. It's not a shadamy story for once. lol But a ****regular Sonic story. It's still in the making...but I'm getting there!**

**Also, if it looks like it's kinda weird, and/or rushed at the end, or some parts, I was typing this while I had zero sleep, but wanted to get one of the chapters out there. So hope it still works?**

**Chapter 6. Shadow's Past.**

"So...you're saying that Amy is from another world, very different from ours, and she was brought here to find me, the element of light and other's out there?" Alicia asked after getting the most of what the two travelers have told her.

After they had escaped the ruins of the castle and town, Shadow had led both Amy and Alicia out of the forest without any other problems. Alicia was still unconscious in his arms, but felt like she was beginning to wake up very soon. To their shock, once all three had walked out of the forest on the other side, the sun was at it's peak with a bright, golden glow to help them out of the darkness. It seemed that they were there for the whole night and hadn't even realized it. Shadow was able to find a good spot for them to set up a small camp for them. They needed a break from all that hardship, well mostly Amy and Alicia, but he was reluctant to give them time to breathe, and for the wolf to wake up.

In the wide spread of land they were now in, Shadow had found a small pond with a couple trees surrounding the water's edge. A good place to relax for the time being, and the water looked clean enough to drink out of if needed. Amy quickly took off the pack Shadow had and placed it down before he laid the angel wolf down so her head was on his pack for support. They were both confused as to why she collapsed like that so easily when she used magic. From what Shadow had learned and seen, people who used magic don't wear themselves that easily. Alicia must've been a certain type of sorcerous to be so weak after using her ability.

Several minutes of resting later, Alicia was able to slowly come out of her sleep, bringing the two traveler's attention towards her. Amy was quick to bring a small cup of the pond water to her in case she needed a drink. Once she opened her eyes and sat up slowly, the angel wolf took the cup after thanking her, then drank the whole thing before letting out a small breath of air. Now that she was awake, she now had plenty of questions for the two, which was not a good thing for the black knight at all. Funny enough, the three spent almost three hours of explaining to their new companion about their mission and who they were searching for, and what they'll hope to do in the end. The sun was very close to setting, so might've been around five o-clock if Amy was correct on the time.

Right now, Shadow was sitting across from the two girls with his sword out on his lap and using a small handkerchief he had kept in his pack to polish the blade carefully. Amy was beside Alicia with a small apple in her hand as a small dinner for her. Alicia had an apple, too, and was almost finished with the fruit after her first. She had been trapped for a long time so she was definitely hungry. All three were sitting around the small fire that continued to illuminate their surroundings and giving a warm and comforting feeling around as well.

Shadow nodded after Alicia made sure to process everything they had told her. "Pretty much." he answered.

Amy smiled and nudged her new friend with her shoulder. "Funny how you're one of the chosen ones, huh?" she joked hoping to at least bring a little light over the huge news she had been told.

"...Yes. I suppose so." Alicia mumbled under her breath while her wings fluttered slightly out of nervousness. Speaking of which, Amy did want to ask about her wings and possibly her heritage and how she was able to be gifted with them.

"Hey, to change the subject on this surprisingly awkward situation..how come you have angle wings? You're a wolf and I never seen anyone like you before." Amy asked out of the blue.

Shadow looked up at her with a disapproving stare. "Rose, you shouldn't ask people of how they look." he scolded making the pink female glare back.

"It's not like I asked in a rude way, I think it's really cool how she was gifted with wings like that." she argued. Alicia quickly held up her free hand to both of them and spoke.

"Hey, it's okay. I get asked that a lot so you don't have to be upset." she said making the two look at her before she continued with a warm smile to her new friend, "Actually..I'm from a very special place that is hidden from this world, but you can visit easily."

Amy placed her three bitten apple down by her side now focused on her hidden home. "How can you visit a place that's hidden from this world?" she asked making the angel wolf giggle.

"Actually, my home is in the clouds. It's a large kingdom that has been floating in the clouds for six generations. My home, Cerilia."

Shadow placed his sword down after he was done, then crossed his arms and leaned his body back against one of the trees he was sitting next to. "I believe I heard of that kingdom. Some say that those who live there have a very unique way after birth and because of that, they were shunned and scorned because of how they were. The sorcerers had been granted by the royal family to create a land in the sky, and make it their own kingdom to rule and hid from the land underneath."

Alicia nodded with a sad look on her face. "Yes...but after the third king, he decided that the world underneath had not been at all like the ancestors said and decided to open up the gates and allow anyone to leave Cerilia. After that, people above and below began to like each other and have even visited the world above by a gondola ride created by magic." Amy quickly chipped in.

"What did Shadow mean by how they were birthed? Like your wings?" The angle wolf nodded.

"Correct. The kingdom was well known to have those gifted with wings. We don't really understand how and why, but if you were born in the kingdom, you would have been gifted wings, or a certain special ability. Like me, I was gifted with angel wings from birth." she smiled while flapping one of her appendages playfully.

The knight listened closely till he had heard about how they were only possibly gifted with either power, or wings. "If you have been given wings, then why is it that you can also heal?" he asked. That question made the young lady wolf flinch and her eyes widened slightly.

"...Uh...w-well..." she stammered, "It's...a touchy subject, actually...I'm sorry." she answered while looking at him with worry in her eyes.

He was slightly confused about her reaction, but he nodded to let her know that he won't continue. Although, he was very curious as to how she had the ability to fly and use her born power. Amy looked back at him, too with a sly grin on her face. "Who's asking the touchy questions now?" she asked with a little hint of sarcasm in her tone. Shadow glared at her as if telling her to "shut up" with he glare. Amy giggled at his reaction feeling proud to shove his words back at him. Alicia was a little confused at the way the two hedgehogs argue, but she didn't question them. Just being around people like this was a very happy sight for the young girl. Even before she was kidnapped and imprisoned.

As the time went on, so did the color of the sky. Alicia was now laying on her side with her wings wrapped around her body like a makeshift blanket. Amy was still awake and Shadow was, once again, out looking for more firewood. She was still sitting where she was before and was now holding the bow tightly in her hand. She wondered if Shadow would ever say anything about her new treasure she had found, yet he continued to keep quiet. She wondered why, even if he was a baby from what the picture had shown her, but he would still possibly know about where he was born and what his father used to be.

Looking up from the crackling fire before her, she peered out towards the open land seeing the opportunities she, Shadow, and Alicia will have in the morning. They found their first element, so finding the next one shouldn't be so hard this time. Amy looked all the way up to the night sky to see millions of stars. She always felt amazed just from the sight, sometimes hoped she would someday see the milky way if possible. But her main concern was back home. Where there others back home worried about her? Surely, her teachers might've been wondering the couple absences she had. Or was the time here different from her world? If only she had a way to see if anyone even missed her at all. Sure, she didn't have much friends back home, but she did hope at least one person could miss her. Maybe Cell might be looking for her. Or maybe Adran?

"Agh!" Amy growled to herself, forcing her head down and gripping it tightly with her free hand, "No! No! No! Stop thinking about him!"

"Keep quiet!" A quiet, but stern voice quickly shushed the upset girl as she turned around and saw her bodyguard coming back with a smaller stack of branches he had brought. Must've been from the forest they had escaped from.

Amy sighed and nodded slowly. "Sorry, Shadow..just trying to get rid of stupid thoughts from my head." she mumbled.

Shadow said nothing, but nodded an agreement while he stopped right beside her and placed the stack neatly by the fire, but not too close. He sat down on the ground, then kicked up one knee bending it and laying one arm over it. "We should be safe this time. We're out in the open, so I doubt any monsters would show up. They usually hide in the shadows at this time of night." he told her to make her feel a bit safer.

She smiled a bit and nodded. "That's good. We definitely need a break after what had happened earlier. Will there be any of those...were-things?"

"True, but no. We are far away from their home right now. But they might be around some other part of the world. By the way, you did well this time. How did it feel to use a crystal for the first time?" he asked now looking at her with slight amusement.

She shivered slightly while she tried to hide her fears by a small smile. "Well...I wouldn't say it was easy..it was honestly the most terrifying moment of my life.. But using something like that took a lot out of me. Yet the feeling of the power inside the crystals was so weird, yet..tingling kind of feeling. But..s it gonna be difficult to get used to the monsters...?" she wondered.

"Afraid so. Walking out into the world is like a death sentence. But after the defeat of the first evil king, it was actually more safer. From what I have been told." he looked away from her and back to the fire while he continued, "Now that Scourge is in power, there are more monsters out there. Some even attacked villages without warning. Each day, you are told to be ready for anything."

"..Is that how you have been taught?" Amy asked.

"Correct."

The pink female looked back to the fire first, then slowly down at the bow in her hand. It was now, or never. If he wasn't going to say anything, then she might as well bring it up so he wouldn't think she stole it in a bad way. "...Shadow...I-" she was quickly cut off by the said knight.

"I see you have something in your hand that is supposedly mine." he started making her jump in fear. So much, her fur slightly frizzled up just by the mention of the bow. "Rose..I'm not mad that you have taken that. In fact, I knew that it belonged to my father when I saw the symbol up close. I never said anything since I had other things to worry about." he said everything all without looking away from the fire towards her.

Amy slowly eased up at the sound of him not feeling upset towards her. That's one thing down, now his past if he's willing to show. "Then..you know that..that place was your birth home?" she asked quietly.

"Correct, again. I barley have any memories of that place, but I know that it's my first home. I was only a babe when I was taken away by force."

"By...force? What do you mean?"

Shadow took a few seconds to take in a small breath before he slowly released it. Knowing Amy, she probably wouldn't stop pestering him about his past. "When the fight was going on, my father was a respected knight of the king's army. He did his best to rally enough soldiers to fight for our home, but his main priority was his family. My mother was at home making sure the doors were locked tight and I was safe in her arms. My grandparents were a few houses away from us, but they were being evacuated without being allowed to check on their son, daughter-in-law, and grandson."

Amy gripped the bow tighter as she listened. "That's sad.. Did your mother go with them at all?" he shook his head.

"No. She had no way to leave. The path around the house was blocked by fire and crumbled remains of homes around it. Her only hope was to wait for my father to come and safe us. Fortunately, he did have some help in making his way back. But..." his voice slowly trailed off knowing that the next part might be a bit hard for him to explain.

Amy saw his mood change and quickly jumped in saying, "Shadow, it's okay. I won't ask about it if it's hard for you to tell me."

He looked up at her, finally, and waved a hand towards her. Moving it back and forth in a motion to let her know that she was fine. "It's okay, Rose. I've dealt with it my whole life, so it doesn't affect me as much as it did years ago." he explained before looking back towards the fire and putting his hand down at his side, "My father made it to the house with several open wounds and burns, but able to walk and fight as much as he can. He walked in to the house and ushered my mother out. She followed him out while clutching me to her chest as he did his best to lead her out of harms way and towards the exit where the soldiers have taken those away from the fight."

"Your father sounds like he was an amazing person." Amy pointed out making the knight smile a bit at her compliment.

"Heh...it's what my grandfather always said. In fact, he's the one who explained to me of what had happened to both of them and how I survived." Shadow added, looking up at her again to see her reaction.

"Wait...you mean...?" she couldn't say another word knowing well that what he said was what had happened.

"Correct.." he started before looking back towards the fire again. "One of the monsters that spotted them, rushed towards them at full speed. Father used that bow or yours to shoot it down by striking the head. It easily went down, but not before sliding on the ground and smashing into one of the house beside them. The force was enough to break through the wall, having part of the house crumble towards me and mother. In a foolish act of bravery...she dropped to the ground and covered me with her body."

Amy's mouth was covered with her hand as she listened to how his mother had sadly lost her life by saving her only child. No words were used to describe the way she felt feeling enough sympathy towards him since she knew how it felt to lose a parent. Shadow continued without looking up this time, but he could sense the sadness radiating off her body.

"Father did his best to dig out her body, but all he was able to was to fish me out. Mother was sadly gone after several harsh blows towards her head and back, but she was able to use enough of herself to shield me from the attack. Keeping his tears in as hard as he could, my father ran away from the site towards the exit while holding me, now covered a bit in my mother's blood. He was able to make it and find the other solders that were coming back to either fight, or save more people. He handed me to one of the soldiers and demanded them to bring me to his parents while he went back to fight. It was his duty to protect his home and the people as best as he can, but to tell his parents to take care of their grandson for him and mother. After that, he ran back to fight. Some say he fought bravely to save his home, but he was unfortunately struck down mid-fight."

"...So...your grandparents were the ones to retrieve you from the soldier, and learned of what had happened to your father and mother?" Amy finally asked almost in a hushed tone.

"Grandfather was the one to hear about his son's passing and soon his daughter-in-law after the war had finally stopped and her body was recovered. He and my grandmother raised me and told me stories of how father and mother were one of the best kinds of parents I used to have. Father would tell them how he hoped his son will join the knights in the future and mother would care for me with a gentle touch."

Amy smile came back at the last bit of some memories his grandparents had shared to him. "At least you have some stories about them And you also became a night just like he had wanted for you. Is it the main reason you are a knight?"

"More, or less. I did want to be a knight in the beginning, before they have told me what my father wanted me to be. It was a new reason to push myself in order to become a Celedane Knight." Shadow said quite proudly of himself. Amy's smile grew a bit more at that, but it slowly faded when one question popped up.

"...and is that why you occasionally go there? To maybe find some things of yours?"

Shadow shrugged his shoulders. "Yes and no. At first, I returned to see how it looked years later and to maybe find my home. Now, I go there just to see if I can relive a bit of my memory of them before the war. I have taken a few pictures of father and mother, including some other stuff. But I left the rest so they can fade away in time."

"Well..this bow certainly didn't fade away." Amy pointed out as she held the weapon towards him. Shadow looked up at her first, then the bow. He could see that the wood was a bit old, but surprisingly wasn't as bad as some of the things he had seen years later, and the first time he had visited his first home.

"Interesting. Father was very gifted in his craftsmanship in weapons, so it's no surprise that his bow was able to survive these long years." he said.

Taking the bow back, she looked down at the well design weapon once more. "I didn't know if it was okay to take it, but at least I'll have a weapon on hand if needed." Shadow cocked his head a bit to the side.

"So..you know how to use a bow and arrow That certainly is a surprise to me." He quipped making her give him a pretty annoyed look.

"I'm not very good at hand-to-hand combat, or other types, but I used to do a lot of arrow shooting back then. I am out of practice, but after a few shots, I'll be able to hit a bullseye straight on." she announced proudly.

Shadow chuckled quietly while shaking his head at her. "We shall see, Rose. Now you should get some sleep. I'll keep watch for the time being." Amy rolled her eyes at that.

"Yes, dad.." she huffed as she got herself at least comfortable on the ground, now laying on her side with her back turned to him. She used the pack as a makeshift pillow, it wasn't comfy, but it would work for now. She rolled a bit so she can look at the knight and softly spoke. "Shadow..just to let you know...I lost my parents, too. So you're not alone and I'm here if you ever want to talk more about it. Just wanted to throw that out.."

Shadow turned back to her and was about to speak till she rolled back over so her head was facing forward and her back was turned to him again. He wanted to say that he knew she didn't have any parents when she was crying in front of the queen, but seeing how she sounded a bit sad when she told him, it might not've been a good time to tell her. He was slightly thankful that she was polite enough to not press on further with his past, yet she might've felt the same kind of sadness he had felt years ago when he had learned of his parent's passing. Actually, this was possibly the first time he had ever opened up to anyone in a very long time. The first time was when he had been with the certain princess of the kingdom. After that, he kept his feelings to himself for so long, he didn't realize he was telling another his past. What is it that Amy had that would make him open up a little to her?

* * *

The next day arrived and the group of now three had settled off to the next part of the their quest. It wasn't a rough night that time, so Shadow had a few hours to rest himself so he can be awake fully again. Alicia and Amy were busy getting more acquainted with each other while their guide was in front of them, leading the two with a stoic look to his face like always. Amy was really glad to have another girl to the group since she had a bit of trouble getting used to the brooding knight. She and the angel wolf had done nothing, but talk and talk about their lives and homes. Alicia was equally amazed at the many wonders Amy had back in her world, just like Shadow, but she showed her amazement more than him.

Shadow wasn't really fond of the talk the girls were having behind him, but he did his best to keep quiet so he didn't ruin their fun. He didn't like being around those that would talk non-stop. But since he was kind of 'stuck' with the two, he had no choice, but to silently endure it. And he certainly did his best to keep himself sane for at least half of they're walk. How is it that those two girls could talk for hours and hours? One topic after another, they just continued. Amy was having a blast since she didn't have much friends back home, not even girlfriends to chat with so she was enjoying each moment with her new friend. She even learned a lot more about Alicia's kingdom and other things about the world she is in now. More than Shadow, surprisingly.

The walk was tough for them, not for the knight of course and Alicia had used her wings to support herself when her feet had grown tired over the bit of walking. Tho, Amy did feel a bit tired herself since she didn't think the many steep hills they were taking could be this much on her poor feet. Luckily for them, a traveling wagon with a mule and a rider had met them halfway on their walk and saw how tired one of them was, and offered a ride for them. The rider was an echidna cloaked in a black hood with only his muzzle showing so he can talk. His eyes were hidden underneath so the three couldn't see what his whole face looked like. The wagon was quite big for at least four people so it was perfect for them to ride in Shadow wanted to tell him no, but he also noticed how tired Amy was feeling. He didn't even think to check if she was fine, or even exhausted since he had done his best to drown out their constant chatting.

He agreed with the traveler and helped the girls up on the wagon before hopping up to sit beside them. Well, Amy and Alicia sat together while he sat across from the two. With the extra help from the friendly traveler, they were able to make it to their destination without any complaints. Shadow had also gave them the rundown of where they were going and how hard it might be this time for the two of them.

Shadow had taken out the map and rolled it out on the wagon floor so he can show the two where they were heading. "The next place will be tough, because it's in a molten volcano. Also known as Ebit Volcano." he described now looking up from the map and to the two girls with a serious look, "It's one of the hottest places in Celdedane. Once you step foot inside the mountain, you are easily burned alive by the massive heat."

Amy was the first to ask questions since she was now beginning to grow nervous for their next mission. "How can we go inside if we will be burned alive?"

Alicia jumped in hoping that what she says might be the trick. "Well, we can get a fire crystal somewhere close. It's not just to use to make fire appear. You can also use it to shield yourself from the flames." she instructed.

"Correct. Even if you touch any flame, you won't get burned if you are protected by the crystal." Shadow agreed.

"But you said we don't have a fire crystal before. Is there any other villages around that might have them?" Amy asked.

The knight looked down at the map, then moved his finger around the drawn out volcano to see if there were any villages, or towns to go to. "Unfortunately, the next town is ten miles from the Ebit Volcano. We're not even close to reaching it since it's on the other side of the mountain. But even then, they might not have a fire crystal."

Amy leaned her head back and let out a tired groan. "Come on...! I love hiking, but this is taking forever...!" she complained.

"Amy, don't be like that. I can maybe fly over to see if I can look for said town. I'm able to fly very far for a whole day without rest." Alicia pointed out with a small smile.

"That's very generous of you, Alicia, but we mustn't stray too far away from each other. You are equally important like Rose. If something happened to you, we might not be able to help you." Shadow debated since he wasn't okay with one of the first of their elements possibly putting herself into danger.

Alicia sighed sadly as her ears folded in embarrassment. "You're right. I'm sorry.." she muttered. Shadow quickly held up his hand, assuring her that she was not much in the wrong like she thinks.

"It's alright, Alicia." he reassured her now lowering his hand down and looking back at the map, "We just can't take any chances right now. But we do need to think of something. The more time we take, the more time Scourge is plotting his attack on us."

"I guess there's no other choice, but to take the freakishly long walk all the way there and back to the Ebit Volcano. Arg..." Amy sighed in an annoyed huff.

As the three continued to talk, the wagon keeper was keeping his eyes on the road, but had his focus on listen into their conversation. The sound of 'fire crystals' was heard making, a small idea had popped into his head, and remained there till he had brought them to their destination. Once the traveling echidna stopped just a couple miles from the mountain. Getting just a tad closer will make it hard to continue just from the heat that is flowing out from the molten lava. The sight before them was honestly amazing. Well, to Amy. Before she ventured off from castle town, she was able to see the tip of the volcano. Along with the swirling smoke spewing out on the top like a donut. But once the four had made it so close to the mountain, the site was astonishing.

She had never seen a volcano in her life, but in pictures in her textbooks. Ebit Volcano was enormous! It was two times as big as the castle from what she can tell. The lava on top of the mountain continued to spew like blood on an open wound, along with a few smaller boulders tumbling out from the top. It definitely wasn't the right place to call a home if the next element was inside. Surly, they would've been burned alive like Shadow had said some time ago. But they had to go in and check no matter what.

Once the wagon had stopped in front of the entrance to the land of fire and lava, Shadow quickly hopped off the wagon first before he helped the two girls off. He then turned to the traveler and said, "Thank you. Your help is greatly appreciated."

The hooded figure nodded. "My pleasure, brave knight. Forgive me, but I couldn't help, but overhear your conversation about fire crystals." he pointed out.

Shadow held out his hand and waved it back and forth. "No need. We'll think of something to get through the volcano. You have helped us enough and we greatly appreciate it." he pressed on ready to turn around to walk away, but was stopped when the echidna cleared his throat.

"But sir knight, I might have something for you that might help." he turned away from the black knight to his side where a small, black pouch was sitting beside him. He grabbed it and turned back holding the pouch carefully to him, "Take this."

"Sir, I don't need anything. I hate to take something that might mean valuable to you." Shadow politely argued and lightly pushed the pack away from him, only for the echinda to push his hand back still holding the pouch to him.

"I insist. It's something I had been keeping for a long time, but I haven't had the need to use it. But I'm sure you and your friends will use them more than me. Please, take them."

Shadow looked at the pouch, then up at the echidna. He still couldn't see his eyes, but something in him felt like he needed to take whatever was in the pouch. This person didn't look too skeptical. He helped them reach this far without any sort of payment from them. Who is this guy and why was he suddenly giving him something that is probably valuable? Either way, he might as well take it so the traveler could go on with his day. He took the pouch carefully and held it with two hands before looking back to the hooded mobian. "Thank you, again.." Shadow faltered, but did his best to hide his skeptic tone.

The hooded echidna nodded, then turned back to the mule and whipped the reigns while he clicked his tongue for the animal to start walking again. Shadow kept his eyes on him for a few minutes just so he can be sure nothing happens if he turned his back away from the path they had taken. He finally moved away and walked over towards the two girls, who were standing at the edge beside a long rope bridge. Shadow hadn't briefed them about the way to get to Ebit Volcano. The gaping pathway to the other side was pretty long, about several feet of bridge length, across a river of molten lava. Just by standing on the edge of the cliff, the three were feeling the immense heat from below. Enough for at least one minute of standing there had made them begin to sweat.

"Holy crap...this is hotter than the summers back home..." Amy gaped as she leaned forward a bit to see the flowing lava slowly move against the current.

Shadow gripped her arm and pulled her back making her squeak in surprise. "Be careful, Rose. That'll lead you to a very painful death if you fall." he warned her.

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms with a small upset look. "Yeah, I know.. Hey, what's with the bag?" she asked once she eyed the black pouch in her bodyguard's hands.

"The echidna gave me this. He wouldn't take no for an answer, but it must be something interesting if he wanted to get rid of this fast." he answered.

"Be careful when you open it. Who knows what might be inside?" worried Alicia.

Shadow nodded to her, then slowly began to open the pouch while Amy was watching with enthusiasm and Alicia with worry still. Once he pulled the string off and opened it, he reached inside and pulled out three bracelets. But not just any bracelets, they were custom-made with fire crystals! Each tiny crystal bead had a deep red color on the top that faded into white like an ombré look. Both Shadow and Alicia were astonished, but Amy was a bit confused as to why the two looked that way and what the bracelets were for.

"I can't believe it!" Alicia gasped.

"I'm confused..what's with the bracelets?" Amy asked while looking at her traveling partners.

Shadow took one of them and held it up to her. "These are very special kinds of fire crystals. Quite hard to find, but easy it make into jewelry like this." he instructed.

She took the bracelet and placed it on her wrist. The sting whoever made it was stretchy so it fit perfectly. "It looks very pretty, but I don't get how these are more special than like the light crystals?"

Alicia was the first to speak. "The most amazing thing about these is that they don't just make fire, but it protects you from the heat around you." she answered while taking the second jewelry from Shadow and placing it on her wrist. Amy's eyes widened at the realization.

"No way! So any heat, even if its over one-hundred degrees, we still can't feel it?" Shadow nodded.

"Any heat, but the one thing that it can't protect us from is fire and lava, so you need to be careful of where you are and step. Otherwise, if you step into the volcano, or any other heated place, you'll feel nothing, but a cool breeze instead."

Amy smiled wide, now she didn't have to feel afraid if she burned alive inside just a few seconds of entering the volcano. "How long do these crystals last?" she asked.

Shadow looked down at his bracelet, then back to her. "There's several strung up, and fire crystals are more stronger and long lasting so we might have at least a few hours." he guessed.

"Let's hope this will last us longer. They say that Ebit Volcano is a very dangerous and easy place to get lost in." their angle wolf friend chimed in.

"Hey, we have the stone still. That's all we need so we can search for the fire element. We just need to keep our heads up and fight whatever is in our way." Amy proudly declared.

Alicia smiled and nodded to her while Shadow had no emotion to his face, but nodded himself. He was actually taken aback from how brave she was being. Maybe a few days in their world might've been enough for Amy to get a little used to it and possibly grow more courage. But in reality, Amy was honestly worried for this next part of their mission. Just looking at the scenery before them sent chills down her spine. The world looked very large with mountains on each side of the path and plenty of rocks, boulders, and many monsters that might come after them once they step in. The sky was a deep shade of red with a bit of black cloud forming around the entire part of land. They had only a mile, or two to reach the entrance to Ebit Volcano, but just by the looks of it, it was very intimidating than the dilapidated ruins of an old city. For the three, it was going to be a pretty challenging test of both skill and bravery to make it through the mountain of lave and fire.

...

Unbeknownst to three, a lime green hedgehog, cloaked in a black robe with only his eyes and muzzle was showing, was standing in a dark, round room. Candles with sinister, purple flames floated in the air, surrounding a large orb of glass. The room was dark, yet the candles had given enough light to illuminate the walls and floor of the room. The orb was set on a gigantic, monster hand, clutching the glass walls with it's three, grotesque fingers. Inside, a cloud of red floated gracefully around the walls of the orb as it created the image of the three travelers standing before the edge of the land of fire. The mobian smirked a wide grin, showing his piercing fangs as he watched eagerly as the three began their steady walk across the bridge.

"They have found the first element, I see.. Well, sad to say that their journey for the next element will surly be their last once they meet my loyal pet." the evil king smirked as his icy, blue eyes stared longingly on one of the three mobians in particular who was making her way across the bridge with her knight helping her along the way.


End file.
